CARBONDALE, Ill.--University of Evansville senior Andrea Sonnenschein (Poy Sippi, Wis./Berlin) continued her strong mid-season charge Saturday, as she finished fourth out of 58 competitors in the women’s 5,000-meter race at the Saluki Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois to pace the Purple Aces to a third place team finish.

Sonnenschein clocked in with a time of 18:43.24 to finish fourth overall, just 15 seconds off of the standard set by Southern Illinois-Edwardsville’s Kayla Brown as the individual champion.  Sonnenschein’s fourth-place finish helped the UE women finish third in the six-team field, including a victory over Missouri Valley Conference rival Illinois State.

“The women ran another great race today,” said UE head coach Don Walters.  “They have done an excellent job of running as a team lately, and that helped today, as our third, fourth, and fifth runners crossed the finish line within two seconds of one another.  Any time that you can do that, you can really move up in the standings quickly.”

Fellow senior Andrea Hoy (Mt. Vernon, Ill./Mt. Vernon Township) continued her strong final year at UE with a 12th place individual finish in a time of 19:23.40.  Sophomore Arrena Svobda (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch), freshman Melissa Truex (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) and senior Franny Enzler (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) then all crossed the finish line within two seconds of one another to place 26th, 27th, and 28th individually in times ranging from 20:33.13 to 20:35.30 to help UE knock off Illinois State.

On the men’s side, sophomore Greg Pulscher (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) once again led the UE charge by placing 20th out of 72 runners in an 8-K time of 27:15.32.  Freshman Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) ran second for UE in a time of 28:11.36, with sophomore Brian Joyce (Evansville, Ind./Central) and freshman Brian Denny (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain) clocking in with times of 28:18.33 and 28:25.81 respectively.  Preseason MVC favorite Southern Illinois won the men’s team title by placing five runners in the Top 10, with former Purple Ace Nick Waninger winning the individual title as an unattached runner in a time of 25:13.54.

Saturday’s meet marks the mid-point of the 2007 cross country season for UE.  The Purple Aces will return to the course next Saturday by traveling to Louisville, Kentucky to take part in the Greater Louisville Sports Commission’s Greater Louisville Classic.  The meet is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. central time.