Sept. 25, 2006
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THIS WEEK —The women’s cross country team will compete Saturday in the Auburn Invitational. The 5,000 meter race will take place at Indian Pines Golf Course in Auburn, AL. The start time for the race is 9:30 a.m CT.
LAST TIME OUT–The University of Iowa cross country teams hosted the Hawkeye Open on the Ashton Cross Country Course with 3,000-meter and 6,000-meter races. The women scored wins over Syracuse and Loyola with newcomer Diane Nukuri breaking the course and school record of 10:25 with a time of 9.47.89. Hawkeye junior Meghan Armstrong set the school and course record (10:25) in 2005. The women’s team put together a solid finish on the day with performances from Nukuri, Armstrong (10:01.04, 2nd), senior Shannon Stanley (10:25.21, 4th), redshirt freshman Krista Anderson (10:25.80, 5th), and junior Racheal Marchand (10:29.94, 6th). Other runners were freshman Chrissy Schaefer (10:52.44, 18th), junior Molly Esche (10:53.94,20th), freshman Katie Ellis (10:57.68, 22th), sophomore Jennifer Docherty (11:07.23, 26th), and sophomore Rachel Hawks (11:30.26).
THE RANKINGS — The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association have released the preseason rankings for the 2006 season. The Hawkeyes are ranked 15th in the nation and third in the Midwest region.
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 were 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 3,000 and 6,000 meter events the last two seasons, and the 4,000-meter record in 2004.
QUOTING COACH ANDERSON – “We are excited to get back to racing. After three solid weeks of training we will now be able to assess our team potential over the 5K distance. This meet sets the table for the Pre-NCAA meet in three weeks and we would like to head to that meet coming off at great team performance at Auburn.”