October 8, 2003

Women Place 8th at Notre Dame,
Men Finish 11th

The Akron women had a strong performance at the Notre Dame Invitational placing 8th in the competitive Blue Division race. The Zips beat all of their MAC rivals and several other schools that are highly ranked in their region. Among those schools was California, who has received votes in the national coaches poll. Running in true cross country weather; cool, windy, and rainy, Adriana Zalucka made her seasonal debut a successful one by pacing the Zips with a 17:58 clocking. Directly behind Zalucka, running a lifetime cross country best, was Jennie Castle, who also recorded a 17:58 finishing time. Morgan Sulzener (18:13) placed third for Akron despite being unable to practice the week prior to the meet due to an illness. Brandi Schoeppner (18:57) and Katrina Jones (19:03) completed the top 5.

The men placed 11th in the Gold Division race, despite being without the services of David Howard who was unable to run because of a strained muscle. Chris Perun emerged as the leader of the men's team, running 25:54. David Pykare (26:22), Scott Mate (26:45), Adam Bray (27:02), and Andrew Adam (29:30) were the other scoring runners.

Notre Dame Results

This Friday Akron will compete at the All Ohio Championships in Delaware, Ohio

The start of last year's All Ohio women's race.