Georgia Sports Communications
October 2, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia men’s cross country team led the way with a 14th-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind., on Friday afternoon.

On the men’s side, the Georgia men tallied 373 points on their 8K course to finish 14th in the final standings. No. 22 Washington (113) won the meet with No. 16 Providence (119) and No. 24 New Mexico (151) rounding out the top three. The Bulldogs managed to top Florida out of the Southeastern Conference teams that were competing.

The Lady Bulldogs scored 425 points and finished 15th on their 5K race run on the Notre Dame Golf Course. No. 1 Washington (33) won the meet while No. 6 Princeton (68) finished second and No. 15 Florida (104) took third.

“This was a great experience for both teams to get ready for SECs,” said Georgia coach Jeff Pigg, who took Georgia to the Notre Dame meet for the first time since 2006. “From what I saw today, I know we can get a lot better. We have a lot of work to do the next six weeks but I was encouraged with the effort today.”

Pigg singled out several individuals on the men’s team who he thought excelled.

“It was pretty cool to see Bejan (Abtahi) and Dustin (Tetley) keep improving and race at a high level today,” Pigg said. “Anytime you line up against the best folks in the country it helps get you ready to roll in the postseason.”

Senior captain Bejan Abtahi won both of Georgia’s first two races and managed a 56th-place finish with a time of 24:51. Not far behind was sophomore Matt Cleaver, who clocked a 24:52 to take 58th place.

Freshman Bill Matthews was the Bulldogs’ third scorer after taking 83rd (25:06) while senior Dustin Tetley was 84th (25:06). Brett Richardson was Georgia’s fifth and final scorer after recording a time of 25:14 to finish 92nd.

“Matt probably had the best collegiate meet of his career,” Pigg said. “Bill is not a selfish guy and I think he was just happy to see we beat some teams that we probably would not have beaten last year.”

Sophomore co-captain Kristie Krueger, who won Georgia’s first two meets, finished 35th overall with a time of 17:24 to lead the Lady Bulldogs. Senior co-captain Bridget Lyons was 64th after crossing the finish line in 17:40 during her third race of the year.

Rounding out the top five for Georgia were McKayla Plank (95th – 18:07), Allyson McGinty (124th – 18:29) and junior Kylie Foley, who was the Lady Bulldogs’ top finisher at last year’s NCAA South Regional meet, (129th – 18:34).

“The women really showed where we are at this point in the season right now,” Pigg said. “This one will tell us where we are and what we need to do. Knowing what I know about this team, I feel confident saying we are going to be all right.”

“I thought Kristie did a solid job after coming back from being sick the last two weeks,” said Pigg. “I was thrilled with her performance.”

Georgia returns to action at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 17 before traveling to Oxford, Miss., for the SEC Championships on Oct. 31.

Full results and a recap from Friday’s meet will be posted on georgiadogs.com.