Oct. 13, 2003
THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Waterloo, IA, Saturday to compete in the Pre-National Cross Country Meet on the campus of Northern Iowa. The men’s 8,000-meter race will begin at 11:40 a.m. and the women’s 6,000-meter race will begin at 12:55 a.m. at the Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course/Byrnes Park.
NATIONAL POLLS
The United States Cross Country Coaches Association sponsored by MONDO ranks the Hawkeyes 34th nationally and sixth in the Midwest Region.
MEN’S LINEUP
Hawkeye runners competing at the pre-national meet include Ben Barron, Matt Esche, Chris Jensen, Ben Lloyd, Eric McDermott, Brain Rae, Tony Rakaric, Adam Roche, Dan Trainor and Stephen Traphagen.
WOMEN’S LINEUP
Hawkeye runners competing at the pre-national meet include Atalie Barber, Jenni Capista, Nikki Chapel, Katie Donlon, Christine Kotarba, Georgia Millward and Shannon Stanley.
HAWKEYE COACH Larry Wieczorek
Larry Wieczorek is in his 17th season as Iowa men’s head cross country coach. In the past five years, Iowa has placed no lower than sixth at the NCAA Regional, including a first place finish at the 2002 NCAA Regional, the highest finish in school history.
HAWKEYE COACH Layne Anderson
Layne Anderson enters his first season as Iowa women’s head cross country coach. Anderson served as the head men’s and women’s cross country coach and assistant track coach at Auburn University prior to joining the Iowa staff. During his tenure at Auburn, he coached seven all-Americans, two SEC champions and 58 academic all-SEC performers.
QUOTING WIECZOREK
“We are going into this week with good expectations. This is a chance for us to score points for an at-large bid and we have had three good weeks of preparation so we should be able to accurately measure our progress against very good competition. We’re healthy, so I expect us to run well.”
QUOTING ANDERSON
“This will be our toughest meet to date and possibly the toughest competition we’ll face all season. The Big Ten meet will be tough but this is a nationally competitve meet so there will be a greater number of quality schools. We’ve looked good in training and we are prepared to run our very best. The girls we have running have to be ready to put forth their best effort because that is what it will take for us to compete at this meet.”