Oct. 11, 2011
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THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa men’s and women’s cross country teams will both compete this weekend. The women’s team will make the trip to Madison, Wis., for the Wisconsin Inter-Regional. The women are set to run the 6K Friday at 1 p.m. The men’s team will race at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. on Saturday. The men’s 10K event will begin at 8:45 a.m.
COMPETING WITH THE ELITE
The women’s cross country team will be facing solid competition this Friday. The Hawkeyes will compete against 40 other teams at the Wisconsin-Inter Regional. Seventeen of those teams are nationally ranked. Those teams include Arizona (14), BYU (27), Clemson (30), Florida (22), Iowa State (9), Michigan State (15), Minnesota (21), New Mexico (7), North Carolina (13), Notre Dame (25), Oregon (12), Princeton (28), Providence (2), Stanford (6), Syracuse (8), Villanova (1), and Washington (24). The men’s team will compete against over 80 collegiate teams at the Chile Pepper Festival .
IN THE RANKINGS
Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams are ranked in the USTFCCCA week four Regional rankings. The men’s team is ranked eighth in the Midwest Region and the women’s team is ranked third. Nationally, the women’s team improved upon its week three ranking. The Hawkeyes are now 23rd overall, up four spots from 27.
BEATTIE SHINES IN DEBUT
Kayla Beattie made her collegiate debut on Oct. 1 at the Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational. The freshman finished third overall (17:29) in a race that featured 538 individuals. Beattie was also the Hawkeyes top finisher at the event.
VARIETY OF FRONTRUNNERS
The Hawkeye men’s team has had a different front runner in each of their last three races. All-American junior Jeff Thode won the 6K Iowa Open finishing with a time of 19:01. Freshman Kevin Lewis won the 8K Iowa Invitational posting a time of 25:31, and Nick Holmes finished first for the Hawkeyes at the Roy Griak Invitational. The junior finished the 8K 20th overall with a time of 24:36.
THODE BACK IN ACTION
All-American Jeff Thode will return to action at the Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday. The junior will try to continue his personal streak of eight straight meets as Iowa’s top finisher this weekend.
UP NEXT
The men’s and women’s cross country teams will head to the Big Ten Championships on October 30. The Big Ten meet will be held in Champaign, Ill.