Freshman Chris Roach Wins the 5000 Meters at the Southern Miss Invitational
Four Argonauts Turn In Top 10 Finishes
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The University of West Florida men’s cross country team started the spring season by competing in the Southern Miss Invitational this past Saturday. Freshman Chris Roach capped off the evening by capturing a victory in the 5000 meter race. Meanwhile, Dominique Sykes and Roman Kowalski each doubled by racing the 1500 meters and the 800 meter race.
Chris Roach (Ponte Vedra) and four others, including teammate Cody Haden (Navarre) were all within five seconds of each other with 1000 meters remaining. Then, in an exciting finish, Roach came from 20 meters down to outkick Ian Bordelon of South Alabama to win the race in 15:46. Haden finished sixth overall in the race of 15 competitors, with a time of 16:09. Both Roach and Haden were racing in their first official collegiate race on the track.
In the 1500 meter race, freshman Roman Kowalski (Pensacola) paced the Argonauts with a 12th place finish of 4:09 in the field of 31 runners. Kevin Ondrasek, a former NCAA finalist in the event, captured the race in a time of 3:49. UWF’s Dominique Sykes (Orange Park) and Brandon Skeie (West Creek, N.J.) finished 17th and 23rd overall, respectively. Sykes raced to a 4:13, while Skeie clocked a 4:26 for the event.
Kowalski and Sykes came back less than an hour later to compete in the 800 meters. Both finished in the top 10, as Sykes raced to a 2:02.9, while Kowalski turned in a 2:03.6 performance. Ondrasek also captured this race in a photo finish with a 1:54.5 performance to pace the 20 racers in the event.
“This was a solid start for the men this spring,” stated head coach John Bergen. “The three races we were involved in (the 800, 1500, and 5000) were very exciting races, and we ran very competitively.”
The Argonauts will toe the line in two weeks for their next event, the FSU Relays in Tallahassee, on March 23rd and 24th. A recap of the Argos’ finishes at the FSU Relays will be available on GoArgos.com. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
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