Nov. 8, 2004
IOWA CITY, IA –
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THIS WEEK – The Iowa women’s cross country team heads to Peoria, IL to compete in the NCAA midwest regional Saturday, trying to qualify for the NCAA championship. Bradley University will host the meet on the Newman Golf course beginning with the women’s 6,000 meter race at 11am. The men’s 10,000 meter race will begin at 12 pm.
LAST MEET – The University of Iowa hosted the Big Ten Championships October 31 at the Ashton Cross Country Course. The Hawkeyes improved by four places and 71 points from last year’s championship. Iowa’s 170 point, seventh place finish is its best performance since 1993.
Sophomore Nikki Chapple led the Hawkeye women for the fourth consecutive meet placing 18th in 21:48. Freshmen Racheal Marchand and Meghan Armstrong placed 21st and 24th in 21:56 and 22:20. Sophomore Shannon Stanley finished 46th in 22:38. Sophomore Christine Kotarba (65th), senior Michelle Sokol (79th), freshman Molly Esche (81st), senior Jenni Capista (82nd) and freshman Jessica Schmidt (89th) also crossed the finish line for Iowa. Michigan State’s Dannette Doetzel won the race in 20:33.
HONORS – Sophomore Christine Kotarba has been selected as a candidate for the Big Ten Sportsmanship award, which will be determined at the end of the school year.
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 ANDERSON – “Moving from 11th to seventh at the Big Ten championships was a very good step for us. Everyone did a good job. It was a great event and I was very pleased. The regional meet will be very similar to the Big Ten field and it will all depend on how well we run. If we run like we did at the pre-NCAA meet a couple of weeks ago, it will be great. It will take a great effort by everyone. I am confident that we will run and perform well.”