Oct. 3, 2003

The University of Kentucky cross country teams return to action on Saturday, Oct. 4, when they travel to Louisville, Ky., for the Louisville Invitational. The meet, which will be held at the U of L Shelby Campus, will feature 19 other schools and will be the largest meet of the year to date for the Cats.

The UK women head into the competition with a new No. 34 ranking according to the latest national poll conducted by the Women’s Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association. The Cats jumped seven spots in the rankings this week after an impressive showing at the Western Kentucky Oldtimers Classic on Sept. 20. Without All-SEC performer Caitlin Phillips, the UK women dominated the field at WKU, as senior Brooke Patterson took second in the 6k event in a time of 22:26.08. Five of the meet’s top-10 runners were from UK, as Leah Kerstetter, Allison Grace, Candace Leep and Emily King all finished in the top tier of runners. Freshman Georganne Way missed the top-10 by less than a second, coming in 11th in 24:20.18.

The UK men had a strong showing at WKU as well, with senior Thomas Morgan taking second place and freshman John Richardson earning his second top-10 performance of the year in the five-mile run. Morgan currently holds the fastest five-mile time in the SEC with his 24:51.32 finish in Bowling Green.

Action is set to get underway Saturday at 10:00 a.m. EDT, as the women compete in a 5,000-meter course with the men following shortly after at 10:45 a.m. with an 8,000-meter run. Complete results will be available at www.ukathletics.com.