University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols Take Top Two Spots At UT Invitational
September 15, 2000 | Women's Cross Country
MARYVILLE, Tenn.---Sophomore Sharon Dickie led the University of Tennessee women's cross country team to a second-place finish at its only home meet of the season, the UT Invitational, on Friday. Dickie finished first in the field of 21 runners and marked a time of 17:54.59 on the 5K course at Lambert Acres Golf Club.
By taking her first collegiate win, Dickie (Grand Blanc, Mich.) also paced the Lady Vols for the second time this season and recorded the third fastest time by a UT woman at the Lambert Acres course. The Tennessee record at the venue is Dickie's mark of 17:41 set at the 1998 Southeastern Conference Championships.
Tennessee took the top two spots as freshman Jessica Southers (Ashland, Ky.) finished second overall with a time of 18:35.68, marking her highest career finish. Three Lady Vols crossed the line in a group next as Renn Watkins (Wake Forest, N.C.) finished ninth with a time of 19:32.64, sophomore Rebecca Collins crossed in tenth with a time of 20:02.93 while Erin Anderson (Kent, Ohio) followed in eleventh and clocked in at 20:21.63. Both Watkins and Anderson are freshmen who made their debuts for the Lady Vols. Rounding out the UT contingent was sophomore Amber Ayub (Knoxville, Tenn.) in 13th with a mark of 20:51.47.
"I was pleased with our performance today," first-year cross country coach Rodney Rothoff said. "At this juncture in the season, we have progressed at a rate that I am very satisfied with. It was great for Sharon's confidence to go out and run the way she did and show that she can be a force in the SEC. I was also impressed by the way that Jessica ran a mentally tough race. As a team, we had an excellent overall performance with everyone putting forth the maximum effort."
In the overall team competition, Florida finished first with 25 points as all five of its scoring runners finished in third through seventh positions. Tennessee was second with 33 points while Milligan College rounded out the field with 74 points.
Tennessee will take a week off before returning to action on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, Ill.
