LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Senior Andre? Silva paced the University of Kentucky men?s cross country team to a fourth place finish by claiming the top medal honor at the Penn State National Invite in State College, Pa. Friday. Silva?s time of 26:16 led the field of 211 runners at the Nittany Lions? 5.2-mile Blue/White Golf Course.
?Andre? had his best race thus far this fall,? said UK cross country/distance coach John Mortimer. ?His confidence should be high going into the SEC?s in two weeks.?
Junior Bruce Hordusky was the second Wildcat to finish at 26:45, good for 15th place. Two fellow upperclassmen followed only a few strides behind in seniors John Thompson (26th – 26:55) and Chris Long (27th ? 26:56) crossing the line one second apart. Freshman Adam Henken rounded out the scoring for the Cats finishing 54th with a mark of 27:23.
?Silva had great support from his upperclassmen teammates in Hordusky, Thompson and Long,? said Mortimer.
LaSalle won the meet on the men?s side with 62 points. Oklahoma placed second at 89 tallies while host Penn State finished just three points ahead of the Cats recording 120 points.
?Finishing just three points behind Penn State was heart-breaking, yet it was a good step for our young team,? said Mortimer.
The UK women?s squad continued to record impressive finishes this season. The unranked Wildcats placed third at 127 points outpacing two teams that received votes in the latest national poll ? Duke (No. 17) and Syracuse (RV). The Cats also defeated fellow SEC schools Tennessee and South Carolina who finished eighth and 22nd , respectively. West Virginia, ranked 21st nationally, took home first place with 86 points. Host Penn State ranked 30th in the country claimed second at 110 points.
Three Wildcats finished within one second of each other for the top team finish over the 6K course. Juniors Jessica Ortman (20th ? 21:42) and Andrea Halasek (21st -21:42) finished in a virtual dead-heat with senior Lavera Morris (22nd ? 21:43) at the line. Freshman Leah Ryan (31st ? 21:50) and junior Jenna Ortman (33rd ? 21:55) concluded the Kentucky top five scorers. The spread from the first Wildcat finish to the fifth was a mere 14 seconds, the squad?s best of the year.
?Our women ran very well as a team,? Mortimer said. ?By beating teams like Duke, Tennessee, Syracuse and Wake Forest, they could have earned valuable NCAA qualifying points.?
The Wildcats return home to the Bluegrass to host the SEC Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park at 10 a.m. Saturday, October 27. Visit the cross country page at UKathletics.com for more information on the team and the SEC Championships.
