Milwaukee Takes Third At League Championships
GREEN BAY, Wis. (Nov. 1, 2008) - Junior Ryan Mleziva took 13th to earn all-league second team status and lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's cross country team to a third-place finish at the 2008 Horizon League Championship Saturday. The Panthers, who took eighth at the meet last season, finished with 105 points to trail only first-place Butler and Loyola. Meanwhile, UIC, which took fourth, was eight points back. "We had a lot of heart out there today," UWM head coach Pete Corfeld said. "That is something that you can't always train a person to have. Our men's and women's teams both have a lot of heart. We had such a young guys team. It's hard to get as much as we did out of that young of a team. I'm satisfied with that." Mleziva crossed the line in 25:50 for his first all-league award. Freshman Dan Uphoff, who finished within six seconds of Mleziva at three of the first four meets of the season, was just seven seconds back in 15th place. Uphoff missed all-league second team honors by just one place, or three seconds. Junior Jason Axt was the next Milwaukee finisher in 26th place with a time of 26:39, while freshman Ryan Baumgartner was two places and four seconds back in 28th (26:43). Juniors Eric Pitt and Mike Sorenson finished together in 35th and 36th places, separated by 0.13 seconds. Pitt crossed the finish line in 26:58.78 to edge Sorenson (26:58.91) for the final scoring spot. Freshman Chris Schuenke was the seventh Panther runner, taking 47th with a time of 27:19.
Butler claimed the team title with the top five finishers for a perfect score of 15, while the Ramblers tallied 77 to finish ahead of Milwaukee. Behind the Flames in fourth place was Detroit with 127 points and Youngstown State with 130. Wright State was seventh (197 points), Valparaiso eighth (202) and host Green Bay ninth (251). The Panthers have two weeks to enjoy their league finish before returning to action at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, Nov. 15, in Lafayette, Ind. |
