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© St. Petersburg Times, published September 28, 2001
TAMPA -- The South Florida men's and women's cross country squads have had questions to answer through the early part of the season.
Can the women live up to their billing as one of the elite teams in the NCAA's South Region? Can the men, with limited experience and a lot of new talent, form a competitive squad.
And for the third consecutive season, there's the question of a new coach.
Heather Curtiss, a former runner for the Bulls who recently worked as an administrative assistant in the cross country and track and field offices, takes over for Kelly Phillips, who resigned in June to spend more time with her family.
The Bulls women, who opened the last two seasons with wins at Appalachian State's Mountaineer Open in Boone, N.C., continued the trend Sept. 1, winning this year's meet by 15 points. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks put the season on hold until Sept. 22, when the Bulls won the Florida Intercollegiate Championships, outscoring host Florida State 33-37.
"I'm really happy with the women," said Curtiss, whose women's team opened the year ranked 28th in the FinishLynx poll. "They really started each race well and ran together as a team. We've really stressed that it was important to start well."
The runners have been listening to their coach. During the Appalachian meet, the Bulls placed three runners in the top 10, five in the top 15 and seven in the top 30. Junior Kristy Fuller completed the course in 18 minutes, four seconds to place second behind individual winner Brooke Novak (17:39) of Tennessee. Fuller was followed by senior Tara Quinn, who was third in 18:12, and junior Cori Kill, who was eighth in 18:27.
At Tallahassee, Quinn, Fuller and freshman Christa Benton each placed in the top 10 with Quinn being the top individual in 21:25. Fuller was fourth in 21:52 followed by Benton in 22:10. Equally impressive has been the Bulls' support group of runners, including seniors Tiffany Quinn and Jennifer Walczuk, who placed in the top 20 at the FSU meet, finishing the 6,000-meter course at the Miccouskee Greenway in 22:22 and 22:28, respectively.
USF's top five women are all averaging less than six minutes per mile this season and all have been in the 5:50 range. Fuller leads the team at 5:48.
The Bulls men, however, didn't get off to such a good start.
With three freshmen suspended from the meet for missing practice, the Bulls didn't have the required five runners to post a team score in the season-opening Appalachian meet. That left sophomore Adam Chumbley and walk-on freshman Jack Galley as the lone USF runners in the meet. Chumbley placed 31st, running the 5-mile course in 25:56, bettering his time from last year by more than 30 seconds. Galley posted a 28:57, placing 113th in his first collegiate meet.
But Curtiss was optimistic that the men's squad would improve -- on and off the course -- and they have, placing fourth among 22 teams at the FSU meet. Jim Vitale and Chumbley each placed in the top 15 to pace the Bulls. Vitale was 11th in 25:27 while Chumbley placed 15th in 25:45, personal bests for both.
USF will run at the Auburn Invitational this weekend.
"We expect the men to keep improving as the year goes on," said Curtiss, who added she didn't expect anymore problems from the team. "They can be a strong team and we'll have the full squad back with Jack Galley, Doug Brown, Andrew Smith, Anthony Griech and Greg Palmerola."