Sept. 5, 2006
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THIS WEEK — Iowa will host the Hawkeye Open Saturday at the Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City. The women will run 3,000 meters at 8:30 a.m. and the men will run 6,000 meters at 9 a.m. The team field includes Iowa, Loyola-Chicago and Syracuse. Admission to the event is free.
LAST WEEK — The University of Iowa cross country teams opened with wins at Western Illinois’ Early Bird Invitational in Macomb, IL. The men’s team was led by Tommy Tate (18:41) who took first place on the 6,000-meter course. Western Illinois’ Beth Whalen won the 4,000-meter race for the women with a time of 14:31. Other individual places to help the men clinch the title were Mike Stout (19:04, 3rd), Jay Renaud (19:22, 5th), Brendan Champlin (19:24, 6th) and Heath Moenck (20:09, 15th). The women’s team was led by Jessica Schmidt with a second place finish and a time of 14:47. Molly Esche (14:59, 3rd), Chrissy Schaefer (15:06, 4th), Jennie Docherty (15:09, 5th) and Rachel Hawks (15:33, 6th) also contributed to secure the first place finish. Close behind the pack was Katie Ellis in eighth place (15:45).
HAWKEYE MEN’S COACH Larry Wieczorek — Larry Wieczorek is in his 20th season as Iowa men’s cross country coach. During his tenure, the cross country team has placed sixth or higher nine times at the NCAA Regional Championships, has posted 27 all-region selections and qualified for the NCAA Championships four times. In 2002, Wieczorek was named Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors by the United States Cross Country Association after the Hawkeyes won the NCAA Regional for the first time in school history. In 2004, the Hawkeyes recorded their highest placings under Wieczorek at the Big Ten (3rd) and NCAA Championships (13th). Wieczorek was a two-time Big Ten champion and a menber of Iowa’s last Big Ten track championship team in 1967. Wieczorek still owns the Iowa record in the indoor two miles.
HAWKEYE WOMEN’S COACH Layne Anderson — Layne Anderson is in his fourth year as head women’s cross country coach at Iowa. In his three years with the cross country team, the Hawkeyes have made strong strides toward recapturing the program’s success of the 1980’s. The team recorded identical seventh-place finishes at the 2004 and 2005 Big Ten Championships, which was Iowa’s highest finish since placing fifth in 1993. Iowa has also improved its finish at the NCAA midwest regional each season, placing ninth in 2003, seventh in 2004 and sixth in 2005. The Hawkeyes have also set school records in the 3,000 and 6,000 meters that last two seasons, and the 4,000-meter record in 2004.
QUOTING COACH WIECZOREK — “We opened up with a nice win over Western Illinois last weekend, and with a group of guys that really had not competed much for us in the past. This week our competition will step up a notch, so we’ll add a few more guys to our lineup. We hope to take another step forward from a start that I was very pleased with.”
QUOTING COACH ANDERSON — “We are excited to compete at home against Syracuse and Loyola and must be ready to race well. It will be fun to see everyone in action and to evaluate the entire team as we move forward into the 2006 season.”