Nov. 6, 2006
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THIS WEEK — The men and women’s cross country teams will travel to Minneapolis, MN, to compete in the Midwest regional meet Saturday. The women will race in the 6,000-meter run at 11 a.m., while the men will race in the 10,000-meter run at 12:15 p.m. This meet is a qualifing meet for the NCAA Championships on November 19th in Terre Haute, IN.
WOMEN’S LAST TIME OUT — The women’s cross country team competed in the Big Ten Championships in Bloomnigton, IN. Junior Meghan Armstrong led the Hawkeyes to a sixth place finish. Armstrong finished eighth with a time of 20:54 and received Big Ten conference honors. Other Hawkeye runners were junior Racheal Marchand (12th, 21:05), junior Diane Nukuri (16th, 21:16), redshirt freshman Krista Anderson (35th, 22:09), freshman Jolly Burke (42nd, 22:26), junior Jessica Schmidt (52nd, 22:44), senior Shannon Stanley (59th, 22:53), junior Molly Esche (60th, 22:56) and freshman Chrissy Schaefer (68th, 23:18).
HAWKEYES IN THE RANKINGS — Latest rankings by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association were released October 31st. The women’s team is ranked 23rd in the national rankings and third in the region. The men’s cross country team is ranked 28th in the national rankings and fourth in the regional rankings. For complete results visit www.ustfccca.com.
THE MEET — The top two teams of each region will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships. An additional 13 teams will be selected at-large by Division I track and field subcommittees on Sunday, November 12th. Individually, the first four individuals not on a qualifing team from each region will advance to the finals. Two additional individuals placing in the top 25, and not on already qualifing teams, will be selected at-large to compete in the finals. The Iowa women’s team enters the regional meet ranked third. They will battle for the top two spots against Big Ten schools Minnesota and Illinois. Iowa men’s cross country will head into regionals ranked fourth. They look to fight off Oklahoma State and Minnesota for a spot in the top two and a trip to the NCAA Championships.
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 and the 4,000-meter record.
QUOTING COACH ANDERSON — “We are ranked third headed into regionals. We have raced, trained and prepared well for this meet and placing in the top two and a trip to nationals are all in reach for our team.”