University of Louisville
at Conference USA Championships
Cardinal Men Finish Third at Conference USA Cross Country Championship
November 01, 2003 | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 1, 2003
TAMPA, Fla. - Freshman Wes Seacat and sophomore Tim Kaiser each earned all-conference honors to lead the University of Louisville men's cross country team to a third-place finish at the Conference USA Championship Saturday morning in Tampa, Fla.
Louisville, which entered the race with three freshmen and two sophomores on its seven-member team, finished with 102 points for its best finish in C-USA history. The Cards' previous best C-USA finish was in 1996 when they finished fifth. Louisville has only finished higher than third one time since 1975, which was in 1987 when the Cardinals placed second in the Metro Conference.
Marquette won the title with 43 points, well ahead of runner-up Cincinnati's 88 points. Seacat finished third overall in the 10K race with a time of 25 minutes, 11.50 seconds to earn First Team All-Conference USA honors. The New Albany, Ind., native joined East Carolina's Kyle MacKenzie and Marquette's Jeremy Williams as the trio broke away from the pack in the final 600 meters, but he was not able to pass them down the stretch.
Despite the third-place finish, Seacat did not win Freshman of the Year honors as Williams is also a freshman. It was the highest showing by a Cardinal since Tom Hagan placed third at the 1975 Metro Conference Championship.
"Wes ran a brilliant race," said U of L head coach Gene Weis. "I can't remember the last time a freshman has finished in the top three, let alone two like today. He broke down the stretch with the leaders like he had to do, but unfortunately he just couldn't catch up as the other two pulled away in the final 200 meters."
Kaiser placed 13th with a time of 25:36.30 to earn Third Team All-Conference honors. Louisville has not had two all-conference runners in the same year since 1987.
Sophomore Kyle Bowling finished 24th in 26:06.70, followed by junior Curtis Persinger (29th), freshman Chris Danks (33rd), redshirt freshman Chris Davis (35th) and senior Jamie Obermeyer (68th) for the Cardinals.
"We had a great race today," said Weis. "Houston (Barber), our distance coach, did a tremendous job in getting these guys ready for the race, both physically and mentally. He has spent a lot of time with them the past few weeks preparing the guys for today, and it really showed. I can't say enough about the job he did."
