Sept. 7, 2001

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Samford's women's team finished second while the men's team took third to cap off the team's performance in the UTC Opener Friday hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Four runners on each the women's and the men's teams placed in the top 20.

Samford scored 72 points to finish ahead of Georgia Tech (76), Chattanooga (77) and South Alabama (80). Auburn easily took first place in the women's competition with a team score of 30.

Sophomore Brittney Mensen had the Bulldogs most impressive showing in the meet. Mensen ran the two mile in 11:53 to capture second place. Junior Erin Giesa followed Mensen's lead by finishing 14th (12:34). Alice McGough (17th, 12:39) and Abbey McGough (18th, 12:40) were the other two runners to finish in the top 20. Kimberly Leerssen ran a time of 12:55 to finish 22nd followed by teammates Suzanne Walker (26th, 13:09), Jackie Sharp (27th, 13:16) Leah Reed (27th, 13:16) and Ashley Boussard (34th, 13:49).

Senior Andrew Spear led the men's team to its third place finish. The Bulldogs scored 64 points to finish ahead of Tennessee (78), South Alabama (134), Georgia Tech (156) and Columbus State (182). Auburn took the men's crown with 43 points. The host team Chattanooga finished second (57).

Spear ran a time of 15:59 in the 5K to finish in ninth place for Samford. Mark Rowe finished 12th with a time of 16:06, followed by freshman Bryan Baddorf (13th, 16:06) and Nic Cowan (18th, 16:20).

Sophomore Brett Baddorf was on pace to finish in the top five, but Baddorf had to stop halfway through the race due to blisters from new shoes. He ran the rest of the way barefooted and finished 19th with a time of 16:25.

Sophomore Chad Johnson (21st, 16:30), Clay Demore (29th, 17:00), Micah Stansell (30th 17:17) and Paul Von Herrmann (42nd, 17:55) rounded out the field for the Bulldogs.

Both teams will be action Sept. 15 as the Bulldogs will compete in the Alabama Invitational, hosted by the University of Alabama.