Nov. 25, 2002
The Hawkeyes placed 29th in a 31-team field at the Division I NCAAChampionships Monday afternoon on the campus of Indiana State University. Iowa finished thecompetition with 617 team points. Stanford raced to its third NCAA Championship title with 47team points. The Cardinal won consecutive team titles in 1996-97 and finished runner-up in1998.
Colorado’s Jorge Torres became the Buffaloes’ third individual champion in schoolhistory, racing to the finish in 29:04. Iowa’s top finisher, Matt Esche, completed the 10,000-meter course in a career-best 31:06, 75th overall. The freshman from Waukesha, WI, paced theHawkeyes in four of Iowa’s final five competitions.
Joe Welter, Iowa’s lone senior, finished his Hawkeye cross country career with a 192ndplacefinish overall. Welter placed seventh among Hawkeyes, completing the 10K course in33:04.
Freshmen Micah VanDenend and Brian Rae ran well for the Hawkeyes. VanDenendplaced 109th overall, second among Hawkeyes, and Rae crossed the finish in 188th, sixth amongHawkeyes.
Sophomore’s Dan Haut, Anthony Rakaric and Dan Trainor made up the middle of Iowa’scollective effort. The trio placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively, among Hawkeyes. Overall,Haut placed 132nd (31:47), Rakaric 136th (31:51) and Trainor 165th (32:12).Iowa’s 29th place finish concludes a successful and momentum building 2002 season.
The Hawkeyes top six runners from the NCAA Championships return next season.
