HOUSTON, Texas - Paige Callahan again led the women's team and Brian Lozes returned to the top of the leader board for the men's squad on Friday evening at the Justin F. Cooper Memorial Rice Invitational. The men's squad placed seventh of nine teams and the women's team claimed fifth place among seven squads.
Callahan led the way with a 15th overall finish - claiming 13th in the team scoring - and crossed the finish line in 14:44 over the 4K distance. She finished fourth among Conference USA foes and was 18-seconds ahead of teammate Julia Whitrock, who placed 24th overall. Whitrock posted a mark of 15:02 and fellow senior Johanna Gretschel placed 35th with a time of 15:24.Emmi Aguillard (38th) finished in 15:33 and Katherine Crabtree (49th) crossed the finish line in 15:56 to round out the team scoring.
Five other Green Wave student-athletes competed at the Rice Invitational, as well, and Jessica Dallager led the way with a 54th place showing in 16:07. Callie Turlington (16:19) placed 55th, Tavie Abell (16:44) was 61st,Aimee Arceneaux (17:26) claimed 65th place and Cassie Campbell (17:52) rounded out things with a 68th place showing in the 73-person field.
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"We were again led by Paige Callahan, but I was impressed with the entire team's aggressive approach early in the race," said head coachEric Peterson. "It helped us get our athletes get into a more competitive position early in the race and I believe that really helped Paige, Julia (Whitrock) and Johanna (Gretschel) run strong races at the front of our team. We were able to run a few more athletes than we did a week ago at Georgia and as a result it was nice to see Callie (Turlington) and Jessica (Dallager) begin their season on a strong note."
Lozes paced the men's squad and finished 50th overall, claiming 34th in the team race, and covered the 6K course in 18:26, just 11 seconds ahead of teammate and fellow senior Max Miller. Miller, who led the team last weekend, ran 18:37 and placed 57th overall (38th in team race). Freshman GeoffrEy Zelek (66th) ran 19:05 for six-kilometers, followed by Mike Mainguy (70th) in 19:11 and Cody Gibbons (72nd) in 19:18 to round out the team scoring.
Rookie Mark Manion ran 19:26 and placed 76th and junior Jordan Vanceclaimed 80th with a time of 19:33. Graduate Student Michael Villasin rounded out the Green Wave competitors with a time of 21L17 in his first collegiate race since the 2009 track and field season, when he competed at U.C. San Diego.
"Brian Lozes and Mike Mainguy, in particular, ran very solid races, as well as Max Miller. It was really nice to see the three seniors on the team step forward and get into strong finishing positions for our team. We have been training very hard over the past few weeks and I think they were feeling that a little tonight. The gap between our top five runners is a not a large margin, but we are still looking for all of them to improve and push themselves to compete at a higher level."
Tulane will next compete at the LSU Invitational on Saturday, September 24 and follow that with a competition one week later at the McNeese State Cowboy Stampede on October 1.
"I think we defiantly see areas that the team has improved in and we have developed more depth and are really looking forward to the next race on our schedule. We are really going to focus on the development of (the team's) fitness over the next month and continue to make some improvements."
Men's Finishers
Place/Adj. - Name - 6K Time
50/34 - Brian Lozes - 18:26
57/28 - Max Miller - 18:37
66/43 - GeoffrEy Zelek - 19:05
70/46 - Mike Mainguy - 19:11
72/48 - Cody Gibbons - 19:18
76/51 - Mark Manion - 19:26
80/54 - Jordan Vance - 19:33
95/-- - Mike Villasin - 21:17
Women's Finishers
Place/Adj. - Name - 4K Time
15/13 - Paige Callahan - 14:44
24/19 - Julia Whitrock - 15:02
35/25 - Johanna Gretschel - 15:24
38/28 - Emmi Aguillard - 15:33
49/35 - Katherine Crabtree - 15:56
54/29 - Jessica Dallager - 16:07
55/40 - Callie Turlington - 16:19
61/-- - Tavie Abell - 16:44
65/-- - Aimee Arceneaux - 17:26
68/-- - Cassie Campbell - 17:52