Oct. 12, 2009

Courtesy of DePaul

KENOSHA, Wis. – Matthew Graham finished his final regular-season meet of the year with a perfect record, winning all five races of his sophomore campaign, including a first-place finish at today’s Lucian Rosa Invitational.  Graham and company secured a third place team finish for the DePaul men’s cross country team, while the women took home second.  Mary Cate Quiett was the first Blue Demon to cross the line for the fourth time this season and placed 10th overall.

Ran at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course, the same location as the 2009 BIG EAST Conference Championship, the men’s squad placed third overall with 75 points.  Wayne State took home the Lucian Rosa Invitational title with 38 points.  On the women’s side, the DePaul squad placed second out of 20 teams after scoring 93 points.  Ferris State, who is nationally ranked in the Division II poll, won with 63 points.

Graham, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, topped the leader board yet again after pacing the field with an 8K time of 25:17.  Three weeks ago, he was named BIG EAST Athlete of the Week after notching his third win of the season at the National Catholic Championships.  He has also tallied wins at the DePaul Opener, the Bradley Open, and the Notre Dame Invitational.

Greg Udzielak clocked a time of 26:43 for his top-team finish of the year, placing 18th overall with a time of 26:43.  Max Clink, Brian Begalke and Max Rodrigues rounded out the top-five for the Blue Demons, as they all crossed the finished line one right after another.  Clink placed 25th with a time of 26:51, Begalke completed the race in 26:54 for 27th place, and Rodrigues took home 28th behind a time of 26:56.

Also competing for DePaul today was Frank Deaton and Chris Gallardo, who logged times of 27:26 and 28:19, respectively.

Quiett, who has been the top Blue Demon finisher in all but one race this season, paced DePaul with a 10th place 5K time of 18:38.  Toni Salvatore, who placed 12th at the DePaul Opener to lead the team, crossed the line at the 18:53 mark to take home a 16th place overall finish.  Senior Terah Cheatham had a season-best performance today, recording a time of 19:17 to place 25th.  Stephanie Hughes and Kelly Pickering were the final two point scorers for DePaul, clocking times of 19:21 and 19:28, respectively.

Claire O’Brien finished just outside the Blue Demon top-five, after registering a time of 19:30.  Stacy Schmitz finished in the top-50 out of 176 student-athletes, while Kim Boisvert, Kelsey Dolan, and Cari Krikorian completed the race in the top half of the field.  Other Blue Demon runners included Kristen Lafferty and Erin Lakie, who took less than 21:30 to complete the nationally recognized course.

Both DePaul squads take a brief two week hiatus, before returning to Kenosha for the BIG EAST Championship on Halloween, Oct. 31.  Post season action continues on Nov. 14 at the NCAA Midwest Regionals hosted by Missouri State.