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CARBONDALE, Ill.--For the fourth consecutive meet, University of Evansville junior Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) set the pace for the UE men’s cross country team on Saturday, while freshman Lauren Zeabart (Fort Branch, Ind./Gibson Southern) led UE’s women’s contingent for the second time this season at the Saluki Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois.

Witters led the UE men to a third-place team finish by placing ninth out of 88 competitors in the 8-K race with a time of 27:05.0.  Freshman Cody Stein (Evanston, Ind./Heritage Hills) once again ran second for UE for the third week in a row, placing 16th overall in a time of 27:29.7, while junior Christopher Kipchirchir (Eldoret, Kenya) ran third for UE and finished 20th overall with a time of 27:47.9.  Senior Brian Joyce (Evansville, Ind./Central) and junior Max Cordier (Munich, Germany) rounded out UE’s scoring pack by placing 23rd and 28th respectively.

On the women’s side, Zeabart set the pace for the Purple Aces by finishing 17th out of 66 competitors in the women’s 5-K with a time of 20:05.8 to help UE finish fourth overall as a team.  It marks the second time this year in which the true freshman from nearby Fort Branch, Indiana has been UE’s pacesetter.  Senior Arrena Svoboda (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch) was not far behind, racing second for UE and 21st overall with a time of 20:29.0, while freshman Kepra McBrayer (Albuquerque, N.M./Highland) and senior Courtney Heller (Montgomery, Ind./Barr-Reeve) placed 23rd and 24th respectively just seconds behind Svoboda.  Junior Jaclyn Dippel (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) rounded out UE’s scoring pack on the women’s side.

The host Southern Illinois Salukis swept the overall team titles on both the men’s and women’s sides, with SIU’s Jason Ordway winning the men’s individual title in a time of 26:25.2, while SIU-Edwardsville’s Kayla Brown took home the women’s title in a time of 18:27.0.

Evansville will return to the course once again on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. central time, as the Purple Aces will travel south to Cary, North Carolina to take part in the Great American Cross Country Festival.  The meet will provide stiff competition for the Purple Aces, as such teams as Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Maryland and Miami of Florida are all scheduled to compete at the festival.