EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Big East Conference running power Louisville flexed its muscle at Saturday’s Mid-America Opener, as the visiting Cardinals swept both the men’s and women’s team and individual titles at the UE Cross Country Course in Evansville.

 

Matt Hughes led the Louisville men to an 18-point victory over Indiana State by placing first in the men’s 6,000-meter race with a time of 18:06.33. Meanwhile, Tarah McKay cruised to the women’s individual title in a 4,000-meter time of 14:35.74 to help the Cardinals to the overall team title.

 

The host University of Evansville cross country teams placed third out of four teams in the men’s race and second out of three teams in the women’s race. Junior Ryan Witters led the UE men’s squad by placing 11th overall with a personal-best 6-K time of 18:39.65, nearly a full minute below his previous standard. UE then place four runners – senior Greg Pulscher (15th—19:26.89), junior Christopher Kipchirchir (16th—19:31.47), senior Brian Joyce (17th—19:33.60), and freshman Cody Stein (18th—19:35.33) – within ten seconds of one another to round out UE’s scoring pack.

 

On the women’s side, Evansville placed its top five runners within 19 seconds of one another, led by senior Arrena Svoboda, who clocked in with a 4-K time of 16:47.75 to place 10th overall. True freshmen Lauren Zeabart (16:48.57) and Kepra McBrayer (16:52.88) then came in within five seconds of Svoboda, before senior Courtney Heller (16:59.91) and junior Jaclyn Dippel (17:06.34) packed in close behind.

 

“Overall, this was a solid start to the 2009 season,” said UE head coach Don Walters. “We obviously still have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be, but this was a good opportunity to run against very good competition and allow our freshmen to see what competing at the college level is all about.

 

“I thought that we did a good job of packing together on both the men’s and women’s sides, although, we still need to tighten the gap a little more between first and second place with the men. Individually, I thought that Ryan Witters ran an outstanding race, and to cut nearly a minute off of his previous-best time is a great way to start the season. Hopefully, we can build on today’s effort next week.”

 

The UE cross country teams will return to the course next Friday, as the Purple Aces travel to Charleston, Illinois to take part in the Eastern Illinois Panther Open. Friday’s meet begins at 5:00 p.m.