Hawkeyes to run at Pre-Nationals

Oct. 10, 2005

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THIS WEEK – The University of Iowa Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams compete Saturday. They both will run at the Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, IN. The men will start their 8,000 meter race at 11 or 11:40 a.m. and the women will follow with their 6,000 meter race at 12:20 or 12:55 a.m. 77 are teams scheduled to run in two races for the men and 80 teams in two races for the women.

Visit www.indstate.edu/athletics/cross/championship/2005ncaa.html for the complete list of teams.

LAST TIME OUT – The Iowa Men’s Country team placed third at the Murray Keatinge Invitational hosted by the University of Maine. Iowa finished with 66 points and a overall time of 2:02:38. Jeff Kent led Iowa with a time of 24:28 and an 11th place finish.

The University of Iowa women’s country team placed third at the Williamette Invitational. Iowa finished two spots behind No. 29 Washington with a final team score of 112 points. Sophomore Meghan Armstrong finished second with a time of 17:01. In the only two competitions this year she has placed first and second overall.

IOWA IN THE RANKINGS – Iowa men are currently ranked No. 14 in the Mondo Men’s NCAA-I Cross Country Poll and No. 1 in the Midwest Region Poll.

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 is in 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 – “This meet is really important for us. We are facing really good teams and that will help us in our pursuit of getting a bid for the NCAA Championships. If we don’t get an automatic bid, a good performance here would help in getting an at-large bid.”

QUOTING COACH ANDERSON – “This is a great chance to run against some talented runners. A lot of the runners you see at the top of the leaderboard will be on the top for NCAA Championships as well.”