Sept. 9, 2006

PENSACOLA, Fla. - West Florida ran away in the team results finishing first in both the men's and women's final standings at the Pre Conference Classic Saturday afternoon, which was hosted by Columbus State University.

Once again Michael Padilla led the way for the men's team finishing the 8k race first en route to a new course record of 25:20. Padilla out ran the second place finisher, West Florida runner Jordan Theuerkauf, by 1:29.

The top five Argonaut runners all finished in the top 10 in the field of 48 participants. Brian Gowin finished the race in fourth with a time of 27:00; Eric Mayes was the seventh runner to cross the finish line just 20 second behind Gowin and Justin Dickieson rounded out the top ten finishing with a time of 27:43.

As a team, West Florida finished the meet with 20 points, 23 points in front of the second place team Clayton State.

"Last year Clayton State beat the guys out of a trip to the National Championships by 5 points at the NCAA Regional," said head coach Matt Dobson. "This was out first time facing them since that race and we made a statement that we are going to be a team to beat."

The ladies did one better then he men with their top six runner all place in the top ten. For the second meet in a row, Lauren Brooks was the top Argonaut runner with a time of 19:01, which was good for fourth place just 51 second behind the winner. Diana Sitar, Kim Gallagher and Jessica Sprugeon each set personal records in the 5k race. Sitar finished in fifth place just three seconds behind Brooks, Gallagher's time of 19:21 was good enough for sixth place and Sprugeon came in eighth place with a time of 19:48. Junior Dawn Kane and senior Jen Pulmano both were top ten finishers, with Kane placing in seventh place and Pulmano with a ninth place finish.

The ladies placed first in the team results with 30 points, which was 26 points ahead of host Clayton State.

"This was an excellent showing by both the men's and women's team today," Dobson said. "The average time for the women's team was 19:24, which is an incredible improvement over this time last year. This is just another step to being one of the best teams in the conference and NCAA South Region."

The Argonauts next meet takes place on the 23 of Sept. when they travel to Hoover, Ala., to take part in the Great American Cross Country Festival.