WHAT: Br. Doyle Meet of Champions, New York City
WHEN: Saturday - women's 6k, 9:30 a.m.; men's 8k, 10:15 a.m.
USF'S COMPETITION: Adelphi, Army, Binghamton, Boston College, Brown, Columbia, Connecticut College, Edinboro, Findlay, Indiana (Pa.), Iona, Kent State, La Salle, Lehigh, LIU Post, Lynchburg, Manhattan, Marist, Penn, Penn State, Siena, S. Connecticut State, St. Francis (N.Y.), St. John's, Temple, Yale
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA - The Bulls toughed it out in the mud in last week's home meet. Now coach Dena Reif is looking forward to seeing what they can do in ideal conditions.
The USF cross country team will compete at the Br. Doyle Meet of Champions in New York City on Saturday morning. The women's 6k gets started at 9:30 a.m. and the men's 8k is set for 10:15 a.m. in the 28-team meet hosted by Iona College.
"It's supposed to be in the 70s with low humidity. For us that's going to be awesome," Reif said. "As wet and challenging as our course was last week, hopefully this one feels better for all of our freshmen."
Reif described the course as "slow" during the USF Invitational last week at The Claw. The USF women's team took third place thanks in part to Nicole Rozario's second-place finish in the 5K after she completed the course in less than 19 minutes. Sophomore Kelli Williams finished fourth overall with a time of 19:26.44.
"We have figure out who are fourth and fifth runners are and move the pack up a little closer to one through three," Reif said.
The USF men's team was powered by freshman Argishti Gazari, who finished in 9th place with a time of 27:47.53 on the 8K course. Two other freshmen stepped up with Michael Babinec finishing in 13th and Josh Pelletier placing 24th in the men's team's first meet of the season.
"It looks great for the future for sure. They're running well right now," Reif said. "We're going to face some Big East competition at this week's meet and some really strong competition that will show them how much harder they need to work to get even better."
