Oct. 8, 2007
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THIS WEEK– The men and women’s cross country teams will compete at the Pre-NCAA Invitational in Terre Haute, IN The course Saturday is the one which will be used for the NCAA Championships on November. l.
WOMEN’S LAST TIME OUT–The University of Iowa women’s cross country team competed against 21 teams in a 5,000-meter race at the Auburn Invitational, September 29. The Hawkeyes finished second to the nationally ranked Florida Gators. The Hawks were led by the individual winner, senior Diane Nukuri, with the a course and school record time of 15:55. Other strong performances were from senior Meghan Armstrong (3rd, 16:25), sophomore Jolly Burke (4th, 16:33), senior Jessica Schmidt (17th, 17:28) and sophomore Krista Armstrong (25th, 17:43) A total of seven Iowa runners ran their personal bests.
MEN’S LAST TIME OUT–The men’s cross country team participated in the 35th Annual Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational September 29 along Montrose Beach in Chicago. The men placed second. Iowa was led by sophomore Jesse Luciano who placed second in the men’s 8,000-meter race with a time of 24:41. Junior Andy Napier placed eighth (25:03), followed by sophomore Tommy Tate (18th-25:25), redshirt freshman Bruce MacTaggart (23rd-25:31), sophomore Brendan Camplin (29th-25:40), sophomore Jay Renaud (35th-25:54), freshman Sam Bailin (60th-26:13)
NUKURI NAMED BIG TEN ATHLETE OF THE WEEK–Hawkeye senior Diane Nukuri was been named Big Ten women’s cross country Athlete of the Week for the second time this season on October 2. The Pickering, Ontario, native earned the award after winning the Auburn Invitational in a school and course-record time (15:55). Both 5,000-meter records (16:10) were previously held by Nukuri and were set September 30, 2006, at the Auburn Invitational. It was Nukuri’s third career weekly honor from the Big Ten. Her last was September 19, 2007, after she won the Hawkeye Invitational in a school-record 13:14.
HAWKEYE MEN NAME TEAM CAPTAINS–Senior Heath Moenck and junior Andy Napier have been named team co-captains for the 2007 season. Moenck, a native of Webster City, IA, has been hampered by injuries this season however he’s been a tremenonds team leader, who aspires to be a coach one day.
“Heath provides synergy to the team and has all the qualities I look for in a captain” said Coach Larry Wieczorek.
Napier, a native of Antioch, IL, has established hiself as the number one or two runner on the team. He is a NCAA regional qualifier in 3,000-meter steeplechase, a cross country NCAA qualifer and a three time academic all-Big Ten selection.
“Andy is one of our more accomplished runners,” Wieczorek said. “He has the experience we need.”
THE RANKINGS–The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association has released its second rankings for the 2007 season. The Hawkeye women are ranked 23rd nationally and third in the Midwest region. The men are ranked fifth in the Midwest region.
HAWKEYE WOMEN’S COACH Layne Anderson — Layne Anderson is in his fifth year as head women’s cross country coach at Iowa. In his four years with the cross country team, the Hawkeyes have made strong strides toward recapturing the program’s success of the 1980’s. The program took a major step in that direction in 2006, qualifying for the NCAA Championships as a team for the first time in 14 years and posting its highest Big Ten finish (sixth) since 1993. The Hawkeyes also recorded their highest finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional meet (third) under Anderson. Iowa has improved its finish at the NCAA midwest regional each season, placing ninth in 2003, seventh in 2004, sixth in 2005 and third in 2006.
HAWKEYE MEN’S COACH Larry Wieczorek — Larry Wieczorek is in his 21st season as Iowa men’s cross country coach. During his tenure, the cross country team has placed sixth or higher 10 times at the NCAA Regional Championships, has posted 29 all-region selections and qualified for the NCAA Championships five times. In 2004, the Hawkeyes recorded their highest placings under Wieczorek at the Big Ten (3rd) and NCAA Championships (13th). 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. 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 the Iowa record in the indoor two miles.
QUOTING COACH ANDERSON– “It was nice having Florida our last the meet. I think they gave our girls more of a push to race harder. And, even though we came up a little bit short, this meet prepared us. It let us know we have work to do before the Big Tens.”
QUOTING COACH WIECZOREK– “Our team had a good performace. We ran a lot of personal bests and have improved our times. We came in second to Malone college, which is the number one team in the nation in the NIA.”
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