Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Oct. 23, 2006
THIS WEEK — The men and women’s cross country teams will travel to Bloomington, IN, to compete in the Big Ten Championships Sunday. The women will race in the 6,000-meter run at 10:45 a.m. ET, while the men will race in the 8,000-meter run at 11:30 a.m. ET.
WOMEN’S LAST TIME OUT —The women’s cross country team traveled to Terre Haute, IN, to compete in the Pre-Nationals. The women competed in a very competitive field of 36 teams in the 6,000 meter race. The Hawkeyes were led to a 10th place finish by junior Meghan Armstrong (13th, 20:34). Other runners for Iowa were junior Racheal Marchand (33rd, 20:35), junior Diane Nukuri (63rd, 21:17), red shirt freshman Krista Anderson (117th, 21:48), senior Shannon Stanley (120th, 21:49) freshman Jolly Burke (159th, 22:10), and junior Jessica Schmidt (192nd, 22:37).
HAWKEYES IN THE RANKINGS–Latest rankings by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association were released October 17th. The women’s team is ranked 23rd in the national rankings and third in the region. The men’s cross country team is ranked 17th in the national rankings and third in the regional rankings. For complete results visit www.ustfccca.com.
THE MEET–The men’s cross country team enters this meet with two other Big Ten schools, Wisconsin and Minnesota, ranked ahead of them national and Michigan close behind. Wisconsin, the defending national champions and Big Ten champions, look to be strong again this year as it has held on to its top ranking since the preseason. The Iowa women head into the Big Ten Championships ranked 23rd and into a very strong and competitive field. The Hawkeyes will compete against five other national ranked teams, Michigan (3rd), Wisconsin (5th), Minnesota (6th), Illinois (9th) and Michigan State (13th). Michigan is the women’s returning Big Ten champion.
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 ANDERSON — “We have a significant challenge at Big Tens this week with five teams ranked ahead of us in the latest national poll. It will take a total team performance similar to our Auburn performance for us to finish ahead of any of these schools and earn a top five finish.”