Sept. 24, 2005

Results

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville sophomore Wesley Korir earned his sixth career individual title while setting new event and course records to lead the Cardinal men to a second-place finish at Saturday's Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park.

The Cardinal men won three of four dual meets ran in conjunction with the primary event with wins over Navy (19-36), Georgia State (23-32) and Chattanooga (23-36), while falling to overall race champion Tennessee (25-32). Overall, 35 teams competed in the men's gold race.

Korir, a native of Eldoret, Kenya, earned his second straight win covering the 8-kilometer course in a record-setting time of 23 minutes, 46.65 seconds. The mark breaks the previous course record of 24:09.80 set last year by David Cheromie of Virginia Intermont and the previous event record of 24:22.80 set by Korir in winning last year's event.

In 10 career collegiate events, Korir now has an impressive six individual titles and eight top-seven finishes. So far this season, Korir has two wins and a close second-place finish for U of L.

"Wesley did a great job today and getting this course record was one of his goals," said U of L head coach Ron Mann. "He's doing everything right and it's showing with his performances through the first three races."

Freshman Cory Thorne was the second U of L runner with a strong 10th-place finish in the field of 306 runners with a time of 24:50.55. Junior Wes Seacat was 17th with a time of 25:09.03 followed by senior Tim Kaiser in 18th at 25:11.27, junior Thad Schroeder in 35th at 25:36.45 and freshman Ryan Byrne in 41st at 25:41.12.

"All things considered, I think our team is starting to gel," said Mann. "I'm very pleased with the way that Ryan Byrne competed in his first collegiate race and Nicole Haworth had a personal best time today. I think we're slowly becoming a national level program and we want to follow the lead set by so many of the other programs here at the University of Louisville."

Overall, Mann was pleased with the Cards' improvement this week and with the increased level of competition at the Greater Louisville Classic.

"With teams like Tennessee, Navy and Ohio State competing today, this meet continues to become a national level event," Mann said. "The Greater Louisville Sports Commission did a great job with this meet, and it's great to see the city of Louisville become a destination for some of the stronger college cross country teams."

Up next, the Cardinals will face their first BIG EAST Conference competition as a member of the league at the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday, Sept. 30 in South Bend, Ind.

GREATER LOUISVILLE CLASSIC
Louisville, Ky. - Sept. 24, 2005
Men: 8 km / Women: 5 km


MENS RESULTS (Scored as Dual Meets)
1.	Tennessee		25 points
2.	LOUISVILLE	32 points

1.	LOUISVILLE	23 points
2. 	Navy		36 points

1.	LOUISVILLE	23 points
2.	Georgia State	32 points

1.	LOUISVILLE	23 points
2.	Chattanooga	36 points


U of L Men's Individual Finishers (Field of 306)
1.	Wesley Korir	23:46.65*
10.	Cory Thorne	24:50.55
17.	Wes Seacat	25:09.03
18.	Tim Kaiser	25:11.27
35.	Thad Schroeder	25:36.45
41.	Ryan Byrne	25:41.12
81.	Curtis Persinger	26:22.18
96.	Chris Danks	26:32.25


WOMENS RESULTS (Scored as Dual Meets)
1.	Ohio State	17 points
2.	LOUISVILLE	44 points

1.	Chattanooga	19 points
2.	LOUISVILLE	42 points

1.	Xavier		19 points
2.	LOUISVILLE	38 points

1.	Dayton		23 points
2.	LOUISVILLE	38 points


U of L Women's Individual Finishers (Field of 272)
27.	Ashley Ruberg	19:05.39
31.	Nicole Haworth	19:08.63
108.	Allissa Moore	20:10.03
120.	Sanny Eugene	20:16.06
149.	Meredith Edwards	20:45.60
223.	Heather Trimiew	22:23.85


* = New E.P. "Tom" Sawyer course record and event record