September 8, 2004

Lake Marie Relays Cancelled. Zips Open Season at Home in Tommy Evans Invitational.

The Akron cross country season opener was scheduled to be the Lake Marie Relays, but heavy rainstorms forced the cancellation of that meet. Now the Zips will open the season at home in the Tommy Evans Invitational.

Although the Lake Marie Relays were cancelled, an improvised intra-squad relay was run instead using the same format as the Lake Marie Relays. Each woman was paired with a partner and ran 3x 1.5M. The men ran 4x 1.5M. The duo of Rachel Zubricky and Brandi Schoeppner took top honors among the women with at time of 54:07 for the 9 miles, while Morgan Sulzener took individuals honors clocking both the fastest split of the day, 8:38, and the fastest average of her three legs, 8:43. The team of Scott Mate and Chris Perun recorded the men's fastest time, 63:08. David Howard averaged 7:40, helped by a final leg of 7:25.

The Tommy Evans Invitational will take place at Firestone Metro Park in Akron this Saturday. The men's 4-mile race starts at 11:30 am and will be followed by the women's 5km race at 12:15 pm. The Akron women have won four of the last five Tommy Evans Invitationals and have boasted the individual winner the past six years.

The cross country teams after Saturday's workout