Oct. 27, 2001

CHICAGO - The men's and womens cross country teams each had disappointing finishes at the Horizon League Championships on Saturday.

The men's team finished fourth, 17 points behind Youngstown State for third place, while the women finished sixth, 32 points behind Youngstown State for fifth.

The women missed the normally outstanding performance of junior Abby Hurst, who finished 18th overall. Hurst was trapped at the start behind a runner who fell, and she could not gain any ground on the race's leaders. She ended the race in 18:50.

On the men's side, senior Cornelius Hill was leading for much of the early part of the race when disaster struck. Confusion over the race course rattled Hill, who ended up finishing ninth with a time of 25:23.

On the men's side, senior Pat Harrington finished 17th with close to his best time on the season. Harrington completed the course in 25:43. He was followed by freshman Steve Saul and junior Jeremy Dunn, who each turned in their best time in 2001 to finish 25th and 27th. Saul's time was 26:26, while Dunn finished in 26:34. Rounding out the Panther counters was freshman Bryan Hassemer, who finished 34th with a time of 27:09.

For the women, the final four of the five counting runners all crossed together . Junior Katie Olander was the first to finish, running the 5K course in 19:53, good for 31st place. Freshmen Christine Wampach was next to cross the finish line eight seconds later in 32nd place. Sophomore Karen Brisky finished 33rd with a time of 20:06, and sophomore Allison Shattuck was the fifth and final counter for Milwaukee, ending the race in 34th place at 20:08.

"I thought we did well, but we were thinking we could have ended up third," head coach Pete Corfeld said about the men's race. "It's not like we lost by not trying hard, the guys ran pretty well, but it's hard to complain when two of your guys run the best race of their lives."

Corfeld was similarly optimistic about the women's team, and had similar feelings afterward.

"We ran a good team race, but didn't have good placings," Corfeld said. "In a meet like this where there's not that many teams, to come in a pack like that was good, but in a pack that far back wasn't so good."

Butler and Loyola tied for first place in the men's race, while Loyola claimed the title in the women's event. Butler's Martin Fedmowski won the men's race, while Loyola's Kristyne McGuinn finished first among the women.

The Panthers will return to the course on Nov. 11, when they travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Great Lakes Championships, the qualifier for the NCAA Championships.