University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Cross Country Travels To Bill Dellinger Invite
September 27, 2007 | Cross Country
ATHENS, Ga. --- Georgia’s cross country teams travel to Eugene, Ore., on Friday before racing in the Bill Dellinger Invitational near the University of Oregon’s campus on Saturday morning.
Georgia’s trip across the country comes on the heels of the No. 15 Lady Bulldogs winning their second meet in a row of the 2007 season and the Georgia men finishing second at the Bulldog Stampede in Athens on Sept. 22.
“We are looking forward to our journey to the Northwest with excitement and anticipation,” said Georgia coach Dave Hartman. “This will be our first test to see where we stack up among the nation's elite. The Bill Dellinger Invitational has evolved into one of the nation's finest regular season meets and we will have the opportunity to compete against great teams from around the country on Saturday.”
After opening the season at No. 13 nationally, the Lady Bulldogs are ranked 15th in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll. While the Georgia women remain in the No. 2 spot in the NCAA South Region poll, the Georgia men are now No. 7 in the regional rankings after opening at No. 8.
The field for the Bill Dellinger will feature many of the top-ranked teams in the nation. In addition to the Lady Bulldogs on the women’s side, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 17 Washington, No. 18 BYU, No. 21 Colorado State and No. 24 Oregon will all be battling on the 6K course at the Springfield Country Club, which is located near Oregon’s campus.
The Georgia men will be competing against top-ranked Wisconsin, No. 3 Oregon, No. 6 UTEP, No. 11 Portland, No. 17 Alabama, No. 21 UCLA, No. 22 Cal Poly and No. 30 Washington on the 8K course.
Making the trip to Eugene will be 10 men and 12 women from Georgia. For the men, Bejan Abtahi, Charlie Dickhaus, Nathan Frasier, Jesse Marino, Ryley Miller, Brian Potts, Ross Ridgewell, Matthew Roberson, Dustin Tetley and Caleb Vogt.
The Lady Bulldogs who will be competing are: Nicole DeMarco, Kyle Folie, Emily Houston, Jillian Lammers, Bridget Lyons, Rebekah Madebach, Sarah Madebach, Natalie Picchetti, Jill Skinner, Kiah Vernon, Katie Weise and Whitni Wonderlin.
“Our goals are to have a great experience and to take one more step in achieving the goals that we have for the championship portion of this season,” Hartman said.
The Georgia women secured their second win of the season by downing eight teams at the Bulldog Stampede. Led by Picchetti, who took third overall with a time of 18:00.92, the Lady Bulldogs beat No. 28 Tennessee 20-64 at the UGA Golf Course.
In addition to the Georgia women taking third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh overall at the meet, the Lady Bulldogs also had seven more runners in the top 20. Although competing unattached, a pair of those top-20 finishers for Georgia were freshmen Foley and Jennifer Barbi.
Houston was named the Southeastern Conference Cross Country Female Freshman of the Week on Tuesday after her performance at the Bulldog Stampede. Houston, a native of Jensen Beach, Fla., finished seventh overall and was the sixth collegiate finisher at the Bulldog Stampede. Houston clocked an 18:16.16 in her collegiate debut and was the fifth and final scorer for the Lady Bulldogs.
The Georgia men managed second place during their second meet of the season. Miller was the second collegiate finisher across the 8K finish line (25:07.45) and the Bulldogs had four other finishers in the top 20.
The women’s 6K, which will be the Lady Bulldogs’ first race of that distance this season, is scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. ET and the starting gun is scheduled to fire for the men’s 8K at 1 p.m. Full results and a recap from this weekend’s meet will be located at www.georgiadogs.com.
