Sept. 15, 2007

Men's Results
Women's Results

SEATTLE, Wash. - After sitting out last season as redshirts, juniors Kim Conley and Patrick Parsel returned Saturday morning to lead the UC Davis cross country men's and women's teams to 5th- and 3rd-place finishes, respectively, at the Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park.

Host Washington claimed both team titles with low scores of 27 in the women's 6-kilometer race and 31 in the men's 8-kilometer competition. The Aggie men tied with Eastern Washington for third place with a 116 toal points while the women were 5th with their point total of 123.

In what men's coach Chris Puppione called his best race as an Aggie, Parsel led the men with his 11th-place finish in a career-best time of 24:25. It was Parsel's first collegiate race since November 20, 2005.

"It's a great start for Parsel after sitting out last season as a redshirt," said Puppione. "He's really stepped up this season and taken on the role of a team leader."

Conley also excelled in her first official race since 2005 as she paced the women with a personal-best time of 21:22, which placed her sixth in the 400 runner field. Women's coach Deanne Vochatzer stated that the time Conley put up is the best time by an Aggie woman in a 6K race.

"It's such a great welcome back for Conley," said Vochatzer.

Along with Parsel, the men managed to get all five scorers past the finish line before the 26-minute mark en route to finishing ahead of five other schools at the highly-competitive meet.

Sophomore Thomas Dileo had a personal best time of 24:55 to finish 25th overall and was followed closely by freshman Jonathan Peterson, who in his first collegiate race placed 26th in 24:58.

It was the same story for the final two Aggie finishers as sophomore Scott Himmelberger was 45th (25:23) while redshirt freshman Kyle Suarez finished 46th (25:45) in his first collegiate race.

"I'd say it was a solid start," said Puppione. "We had a total of seven guys get personal bests today, so we can't really complain about anything. We continue to gain experience and by the time conference and regionals roll around, we'll be much improved."

The Aggie women also got a boast from a sophomore as Brianna Larson bested her pervious best at the course with a time of 22:07 to finish 22nd. Junior Kaitlin Gregg finished right behind in 33rd place with a time of 22:28.

Senior captain Lorin Scott was the fourth scorer for the Aggies as her time of 22:35 placed her 36th. Also competing in her first collegiate race, Britny Escamilla rounded out the Aggie scorers with a 44th-place finish in 22:53.

"The day didn't go as I wanted it to, but we know we have some work to do and we'll continue to improve," said Vochatzer. "It was a solid start to our season and we'll just go back and prepare for the upcoming Stanford Invitational."

UC Davis will travel to Palo Alto in two weeks for the Stanford Invitational, which is scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m.

Sundodger Invitational
Lincoln Park; Seattle, Wash.

WOMEN (6K)
TEAM - 1. Washington, 27; 2. Idaho, 76; 3. San Francisco, 104; 4. Santa Clara, 122; 5. UC Davis, 123; 6. Eastern Washington, 130; 7. Seattle Pacific, 133; 8. Washington State, 180.

INDIVIDUAL (Top finisher and UC Davis only) 1.Anita Campbell, UW, 20:20... 6. Kim Conley, 21:22; 22. Brianna Larson, 22:07; 33. Kaitlin Gregg, 22:28; 36. Lorin Scott, 22:33; 44. Brittny Escamilla, 22:53; 48. Alison Stoakley, 23:01; 54. Jennifer Martindill, 23:15; 57. Ashley Harris, 23:26; 58. Alicia Ivanhoe, 23:28; 59. Caitlin Fitzgerald, 23:24.

MEN (8K)
TEAM - 1. Washington, 31; 2. Washington State, 52; 3. UC Davis, 116

INDIVIDUAL (Top finisher UC Davis only) 1. Jon Harding, UW, 23:36... 11. Patrick Parsel, 24:25; 25. Thomas Dileo, 24:55; 26. Jonathan Peterson, 24:58; 45. Scott Himmelberger, 25:23; 46. Kyle Suarez, 25:45; 62. Ben DeLand, 25:51; 63. Andrew Peabody, 25:54; 64. Arran Rogerson, 25:55; 65. David Buscho, 25:55; 76. Tyler Rattray, 26:31.