Sept. 19, 2005
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THIS WEEK – The 16th-ranked University of Iowa men’s country team travels to Minneapolis, MN, to compete at the Roy Griak Invitational Saturday. The 8,000-meter race will begin at 11 a.m. at the Les Bolstad Golf Course.
THE COMPETITION – Iowa will face off against top ranked Wisconsin, No. 4 BYU, No. 8 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, No. 11 Arizona State, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 15 Butler, No. 24 Providence, No. 25 Minnesota, No. 27 Michigan, No. 30 Michigan State, James Madison, Iowa State, Nebraska, Baylor, Kansas, Loyola, Montana, UC Santa Barbara, and Weber State.
IOWA RANKED – Iowa is currently ranked 16th in the pre-season Mondo NCAA-I Men’s Cross Country Poll. This is the highest the Hawkeyes have been ranked in the pre-season poll under Coach Larry Wieczorek.
LAST TIME OUT – 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 also rank 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 – “This is a great oppurtunity for us to compete against some very high quality oppenents. Wisconsin is ranked first in the nation and there are a lot of other ranked teams as well. Top-to-bottom there will be a lot of talent running this weekend.”