Sept. 19, 2008

Complete Results |  Photo Gallery 

Tennessee Invitational Results

The Tennessee men's cross country team placed second with 33 points Friday at the season-opening UT Invitational. Senior Andrew Press led the Vols, finishing second in a time of 25:01.62.

"I'm very pleased with our performance," Tennessee head coach George Watts said. "We had a 43-second spread among our top five, which is pretty good for the first meet of the season. Andrew Press had a nice, steady, smart race. His time was very good for this early in the season.

"The nice thing about the race today was that we were forced to compete all the way through," Watts said. "It was almost like a dual meet. We got edged in a few places and that was the difference."

Miami (Ohio) won the race with 27 points. The Vols were followed by Belmont with 75 points, Georgia Tech with 120 points and Bryan College with 150 points. The individual winner was Pat Sovacool from Miami (Ohio) in a time of 24:54.22.

Press was followed by senior captain Steve Tobin in sixth (25:18.95), sophomore Michael Spooner in ninth (25:36.90), junior Chris Rapp in 12th (25:43.07) and freshman Ryan Beabout in 14th (25:44.43).

Junior Mike Brodsky (25:50.45) and freshman Chris Bodary (26:03.14) rounded out the top seven for the Vols. Beabout and Bodary were running in their first collegiate race.

"Both Ryan (Beabout) and Chris (Bodary) had very solid performances for their first collegiate race," Watts said. "Both probably felt a little bit pressed and nervous, but they hung in there and competed hard."

Tennessee next travels to Williamsburg, Va., for the Colonial Interregional Challenge on Sept. 27. The meet is hosted by William & Mary begins at 10:00 a.m. ET.