University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
NCAA South Regional (10K)
CROSS COUNTRY VOLS FINISH FOURTH AT SOUTH REGIONAL
November 12, 2005 | Cross Country
Nov. 12, 2005
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Tennessee's cross country team proved as good as its pre-meet ranking as the Volunteers finished fourth with 100 points in a field of 20 at the 10K NCAA South Regional Championship Saturday morning at the University Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla. Senior co-captain Zach Sabatino qualified for the NCAA championship as an individual after leading the Vols for the fifth consecutive race.
Separating himself from a field of 140 runners, Sabatino's third-place finish ranks as the best by a Vol since 1998 when Doug Ellington finished second. In addition to Sabatino, Andy Baksa, 18th, and Ben Lukowski, 22nd, earned All-Region honors.
"I'm obviously disappointed with the fourth-place finish in terms of trying to qualify for the NCAA championship," head coach George Watts said. "Our fourth, fifth and sixth guys let us down a little bit. I thought Andy and Ben ran solid races, and Zach ran a great race. Zach continues to train and race as an All-America runner should. He will do a fine job representing Tennessee at the NCAA championship in nine days.
The Vols' fourth-place team finish and 100-point score significantly improved on last year's South Regional finish of sixth with 160 points. Thanks to Sabatino's individual qualifier, Tennessee kept alive a streak in which it has been represented in the NCAA championship by a team or individual in all but three seasons since 1971. Each of the Vols' four runners who competed in the 2004 regional improved his standing in 2005.
Alabama (first, 40 points) and Florida State (second, 47 points) earned the automatic NCAA berths. Homestanding Florida's third-place finish after totaling 77 points may be strong enough to make the NCAA field as an at-large team based on its 14th-place national ranking entering the meet. Alabama stands 11th nationally and was ranked first in the region. However, 22nd-ranked Florida State bettered its third-place regional ranking by upsetting the Gators.
South Alabama's Tonny Okello won the meet by finishing the 10K race, the longest distance of the season, in 29 minutes, 31.70 seconds. Because South Alabama didn't field a complete squad of five runners, Okello did not count in the team scoring and shifted the individual point totals. For example, Florida State's Andrew Lemoncello finished second in 29:42.22 but was awarded first-place points because Okello was deleted from the team scoring.
Sabatino continued his masterful senior campaign by adding his second consecutive All-Region honor to his All-SEC acclaim earned at the conference championship. Sabatino finished third in 29:53.18, the best time of any competitor from one of the eight SEC schools racing in the South Regional. Sabatino finished 10th to lead the Vols at the 2004 regional. On the season, Sabatino has been defeated by 17 runners but beaten 759 competitors.
Farragut native Andy Baksa ends his collegiate career with an 18th-place, 31:08.46 finish to earn All-Region honors for the second consecutive year. Lukowski also earned All-Region acclaim by finishing 22nd, up from 59th in last year's regional meet, with a time of 31:14.09. Matt Piccarello, who didn 't run in the 2004 regional, finished 32nd, fourth among Vols, with a time of 31:48.40. Chris Platt rounded out Tennessee's scoring five with a 36th-place, 31:58.01 effort. Platt finished 46th in 2004.
The Vols' spread between its top-five scoring runners measured 2:04.83, the widest margin of the season.
Knoxville West grad Dusty Miller finished 42nd with a 32:09.78 time. Miller advanced from the position of alternate in 2004. Tyler DeVault finished 85th with a 33:34.67 clocking. He didn't compete in the 2004 regional. Redshirt freshman Steve Tobin was assigned the alternate position Saturday but was not called into service.
Watts reports that conditions were sunny and clear for the 11 a.m. start on a dry but demanding course.
Sabatino puts the bookend on Tennessee's 2005 cross country season Nov. 22 at the 10K NCAA championship in Terre Haute, Ind.
