Iowa Heading To Ames

Sept. 6, 2005

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THIS WEEK – The University of Iowa men’s country team will head to Ames, IA, to compete in the Iowa State Open Friday. Teams scheduled to compete are Iowa, Truman State, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Drake, William Penn, South Dakota and host Iowa State. It is likely more teams will compete. The 8K race will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Iowa State Cross Country Course.

LAST WEEK – Iowa hosted the 2005 Hawkeye Open at Ashton Cross Country Course. The Hawkeyes ran away with the victory in the 6K race, finishing with only 18 points, 32 points better than second place Illinois. The men’s team also finished with the top four individual finishers. These top four finishers now also place in the top four in the course-record book. Leading the course-record breaking Hawkeyes and winning the race was Eric MacTaggart who finished with a time of 18:18. Teammates Dan Haut (18:24), Jeff Kent (18:27) and Adam Roche (18:33) were right behind MacTaggart at the finish line.

HAWKEYE COACH Larry Wieczorek – Larry Wieczorek is in his 19th season as Iowa men’s cross country coach. In the past six years, Iowa has placed no lower than sixth at the NCAA Regional, that includes 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.

QUOTING COACH WIECZOREK – “I’m very pleased with the effort we were able to put forth last week. It’s early in the season, but we did a good job of staying focused and running a good race. The competition will be much stronger this week. If we continue to improve each week we’ll be a pretty good team.”