Contact: Cara Lynn Teague
Phone: (850) 450-5646
November 20, 2004

UWF's Padilla Finishes Strong at NCAA National Meet

EVANSVILLE, IND. - Michael Padilla became the first UWF men's cross country harrier to compete in the NCAA Division II National Meet today. Padilla finished a strong 57th with a 10K time of 33:53.3 among 184 competitors.

Padilla made the Nationals after finishing fifth at the South Regional with a time of 31:17 to break the UWF record. He also holds the school's fourth best 10K time of 32:44 from the 2003 NCAA South Regional, and he tops the 8K best UWF times with 24:54 from the Disney World Cross Country Classic earlier this season.

Western State won the NCAA Division II National Championship for men's cross country, and Nicodemus Naimadu of Abilene Christian was the individual winner with a time of 31:38.1.