DePaul University Athletics
Graham Tops Leaderboard at the Notre Dame Invitational
10/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | CROSS COUNTRY
Graham, a sophomore out of Glasgow, Scotland, edged out Curtis Vollmar of Eastern Michigan by six seconds, posting an 8K time of 24:24 to win the Gold Division. Senior Jakub Kolacz has been the other top runner for DePaul all season long, and placed 19th behind a time of 25:29. Max Clink and Max Rodrigues placed 83rd and 96th overall, respectively. Clink clocked a time of 26:37, while Rodrigues ran his first 8K of year in 26:47. Rounding out the Blue Demon top-five was Greg Udzielak, who finished in a time of 26:58.
Finishing just outside the top-five was Brian Begalke, who recorded a time of 27:04, and Frank Deaton, who lowered his personal-best 8K time to 27:07.
The women were once again led by Quiett and Toni Salvatore, who placed 21st and 23rd, respectively. Quiett missed her career-best 5K by just five seconds after crossing the line at the 18:26 mark. Salvatore blew away her previous personal-record time by nearly half of a minute after clocking an 18:29. Stephanie Hughes and Kelly Pickering finished back-to-back, both recording times of 19:11 to take a 61st and 62nd place finish. Claire O'Brien was the fifth and final Blue Demon to score team points, finishing in at 67th with a time of 19:13.
Other runners for DePaul included Terah Cheatham and Stacy Schmitz, who crossed the line together for 84th and 85th place. Cari Krikorian clocked a time of 20:13, while Courtney Avvampato finished in 20:19.
The men's cross country team finished in 11th place, while No. 1-ranked North Central College (Div. III) took home the top-spot in the Gold Division. The Grand Valley State squad won the women's Gold Division. Taking home the top prize in the Blue Division was Washington, who placed first in both the men's and women's races.
The Blue Demons return to action of Oct. 10 when they travel to Kenosha, Wis. for the Lucian Rosa Invitational hosted by UW-Parkside. They'll return to Kenosha at the end of the month, when Marquette plays host to the 2009 BIG EAST Conference Championships at the same location.