Panthers Complete 2006 Disney Cross Country Classic at the Wide World of Sports
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Florida Tech Panthers ran in the 2006 Disney Classic saturday morning amongst a combined men’s and women’s 526 runners and 66
institutions. The men’s team finished 17th out of 30 teams, while the women’s team placed 16th out of 36 teams entered. Both the men and the women finished
ahead of Division I and II teams along with NAIA programs.
Winning the 8K men’s title was NCAA DI Central Florida with a team score of 60; averaging a team time of 25:56.53 for the victory. The top male runner was
Wilbourn Kosgei from Warner Southern College with a medalist time of 25:23.89. Taking the women’s title was Brigham Young University with a 35 team score
and an average time of 18:08.92. Florida Southern’s Jael Koech took the gold on the women’s side with the 5K winning time of 17:52.03.
The women beat out school’s such as SSC foe Nova Southeastern, Stetson, Central Florida, Valdosta State and USC-Aiken to name a few. The men , also racing
well, placed higher than thirteen other programs including: Florida Atlantic, Stetson, Valdosta and Saint Leo University.
Pacing the men was senior Jared Doescher (Hillsboro, Oregon), who finished in 75th place with a 27:28.82 top Tech finish for the 8K race. Doescher has
consistently been the Panthers number one runner all season. Stepping up to the number two spot was junior David Stephens (North Royalton, Ohio) with an
80th place finish (27:37.52) out of 239 male participants.
“Both Jared and David raced well today…there were some great individual performances on the men’s side that impressed me for the larger of this year’s
races,” stated Head Coach Pete Mazzone.
Junior Joe Peterson (Litchfield, New Hampshire) finished next for the crimson and gray harriers with a 28:46.70 time for a 121st place finish. Coming in a
close fourth and fifth on the team were junior Shane Ferguson (Buena Vista, Virginia) and sophomore Max Goldfarb (Baltimore, Maryland). Ferguson, pulling
in a 30:02.98 time came in 159th, while Goldfarb was close behind crossing the line at 30:07.36 notching a 161st place.
The final two runners for Tech that garnered points for the team came in sixth and seventh for the Panthers. Junior Sam Golden (Fort Myers, Florida) passed
through the chute at 30:36.19 (172nd place) and rounding out the team scoring was sophomore Eric Beckwith (Poughkeepsie, New York) with a final time of
31:37.04 placing 193rd. Senior Andy Herron (Jacobus, Pennsylvania) placed 197th with a 32:03.02 time.
Freshman runners Kyle Kirk (Warrenton, Virginia) and Calvin Emery York, Pennsylvania) completed Tech’s entries. Both runners still adjusting to the longer
collegiate distance of 8K finished 215th and 219th respectively. Kirk ran the course in 33:59.15, while Emery tallied a 34:44.72 time.
On the women’s side, again, junior Carolyn Salois (Palm Bay, Florida) led her team with a time of 20:08.27 coming in 63rd out of the 287 women’s field.
Thirty-seven seconds later freshman Megan Pierce (Seeley, Wisconsin) came through the chute at 20:45.81 placing 92nd. Third on the team was senior Jamie
Wagner (Arlington Heights, Illinois) running the 5K in 21:01.65 for 112th place.
Freshman Nicole Aia (Stormville, New York) and Jennifer Lindsay (Sugar Grove, Illinois) grabbed 4th and 5th on the team with 127th and 151st places in the
race. Aia raced a 21:26.65 fifteen hundred meter course, while Lindsay chipped in 21:59.94 time for Tech.
Senior Amy Bennett (Austin, Texas) coming off an injury finished 156th with a 22:05.02 time rounding out the Panthers.
Junior Ryan Gauthier (Mystic, Connecticut), along with women’s team member Trevi Jenkins (Towson, Maryland) did not participate in the Classic due to
injuries and sickness.
Florida Tech will have a two week break leading up the 2006 Sunshine State Conference Championships hosted by Nova Southeastern on Saturday, October 21st
at 7:30 a.m. To view the full results click the following link: http://gopanthers.fit.edu/uploads/_2006/2006 Disney Classic
results2.pdf .
