Oct. 25, 2004
IOWA CITY, IA –
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THIS WEEK – The University of Iowa men’s and women’s cross country teams host the Big Ten Championship Sunday at the Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City. The women’s 6,000 meter race will begin at 10:45 a.m. The men’s 8,000 meter race is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m.
LAST WEEK – The Hawkeyes competed at Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, IN October 16. The Iowa men competed in the white race and finished 12th (35 teams) with 371. The Iowa women finished 18th (37 teams) 6,000 meter blue race. Stanford won the men and women competitions.
Sophomore Micah VanDenend finished first for the Hawkeyes in 24:55:2, placing 55th. Freshman Eric MacTaggart ran 24:58:5 to place 63rd. Senior Matt Esche crossed the finish line in 68th place while junior Dan Haut placed 77th. Stanford’s Ryan Hall won the race in 23:54.4.
Sophomore Nikki Chapple led the Hawkeye women placing 46th in 21:39:7. This was the third meet Chapple was the first to cross the finish line for Iowa. Fellow sophomore Shannon Stanley placed 81st in 22:02:4. Freshmen Meghan Armstrong and Racheal Marchand were also in the field. Stanford’s Alicia Craig won the race in 20:20.4.
HONORS – The University of Iowa men’s cross country team was ranked 30th by the Mondo National Top 30 Poll last week. Other Big Ten schools include Wisconsin (1), Michigan (7), Indiana (13), Minnesota (19), and Michigan State (27).
HAWKEYE COACH Larry Wieczorek – Larry Wieczorek is in his 18th season as Iowa men’s cross country coach. In the past six 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. Wieczorek was a two-time Big Ten champion and a member of Iowa’s last Big Ten track championship team in 1967. Wieczorek still owns Iowa records in the outdoor 5,000-meters and the indoor two mile.
HAWKEYE COACH Layne Anderson – Layne Anderson enters his second season as Iowa women’s cross country coach and assistant women’s track coach. In his first season at Iowa, Anderson guided the cross country team to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional. 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 COACH WIECZOREK – “We’ve had a good week of training. Every week we get a little more healthy, fit and prepared. This competition will have an extremely tough field. Seven teams are nationally ranked in the top 30. We have worked hard and should be ready to go.”
QUOTING COACH ANDERSON – “We ran well at Pre-Nationals. We beat some ranked teams and had personal records across the board. Shannon Stanley and Christine Kortarba had two minute improvements from this meet last year. Our freshmen ran very well considering this was the most competitive meet they have competed in so far.We went from 28th place last year to 18th this year. The Big Ten Championship will be a close field; it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. We just need to stay healthy and continue to train well.