Sept. 13, 2012

UCF Athletics Social Media Directory

By Erica Winston
UCFAthletics.com

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com)- Eleven members of UCF cross country will head to Gainesville this weekend for the Mountain Dew Invitational. Representing the Knights will be a fleet of freshmen alongside three sophomores and their only senior Jessica Pachay.

Among the representatives will be freshman Anne-Marie Blaney, who finished first overall last week at the USF Invitational in Tampa in her first collegiate performance.

Blaney is one of the top runners for UCF and looking to be one of the most promising freshmen this season. She is already off to a fast start shattering the 20-minute barrier and setting the bar for the rest of her teammates.

Alongside Blaney will be Heather Classe, who also broke 20 minutes in last week's season opener with the time of 19:45.22. Among the other freshmen traveling will be Rachel Petrik, Jocelin Adona, Amy Ankli, Alyssa Hamel and Caroline Pauls.

The Mt. Dew Invitational will be hosted by the University of Florida on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at the Mark Bostick golf course. The Knights will be competing against athletes from more than 20 local and regional colleges, universities and track clubs, including Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida, FIU and Miami.

Having missed first place by only four points in the season-opener, the team is on edge and ready to compete. The Knights will be looking for sophomores Teresa Huff, Shelby Blaes, Amelia Williams and Pachay to come through with another outstanding performance to help the team go from second place to the top of the podium.