Utah Cross Country Heads to Terre Haute for Pre-NCAA Meets - The Official Athletic Site of the University of Utah

Utah Cross Country Heads to Terre Haute for Pre-NCAA Meets
Utes look to qualify for NCAA Championships for first time.

The Utes will compete in the NCAA Pre-National Championship meet this weekend.

Oct. 12, 2004

This Week:
The University of Utah cross country teams will head to Terre Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Pre-National Championship meet on Saturday, Oct. 16. The meet will be hosted by the Indiana State Sycamores and will feature 86 men's teams and 85 women's teams. The Meet will be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind.

The Utes will work to be among the 31 teams and 38 individuals invited to the NCAA Championship meet.

Previewing the Competition:
The women's team will compete in the 6,000-meter race, which will feature No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Colorado, No. 5 Notre Dame, No.7 Arizona State, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 9 Tennessee and No. 10 Missouri. In all, 23 of the top 30 teams will compete in three separate 6,000-meter races.

The men's team will compete in the 8,000-reter race with No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Iona College, No. 5 Michigan, No. 6 Colorado, No. 7 Georgetown, No. 8 North Carolina State, No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 10 Butler. Twenty-six of the top 30 teams will compete in three separate 8,000-meter races.

The race will also feature men and women's teams from fellow Mountain West Conference schools Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State and New Mexico. The race schedule is as follows (CDT):

11:00 a.m.	Women's 6,000 Meter Blue Race
11:35 a.m.	Women's 6,000 Meter White Race
12:10 p.m.	Men's 8,000 Meter Blue Race
12:50 p.m.	Men's 8,000 Meter White Race
1:30 p.m.  	Women's 6,000 Meter Open Race
2:05 p.m.	         Men's 8,000 Meter Open Race

Quoting Head Coach Brian Appell:
"This meet is very important in terms of scoring points towards qualifying for the NCAA championships," states Appell. "The kids have done the work and are prepared for their first true test of the year. There will be so many great schools at this meet that if we place within the top 15 on both teams, I will consider it a fantastic effort."

Previous Meet:
The University of Utah cross country teams competing the Bobcat Invitational on Sat., Sept. 18. The meet featured athletes from Utah, Weber State, Utah Valley State College, Montana, Montana State, Idaho State and Westminster. Utah's women's team had a great race, wining the three-mile race with Elise Greenwood taking gold individually.

The Ute women had three runners finishing within the top 5. Greenwood led the team with an impressive first-place finish (17:11.12) and was named the Mountain West Conference athlete of the week honors. Jennie Haertel finished third followed by Nellie Hammons at fourth, Charity Vernon at 14th, Jenny Gustavson at 20th, and Kristen Taylor at 21st.

The men's team had three runners within the top 10. Senior Delfino Arevalo led the men's team, finishing second in the four-mile race (24:42.04). Colby Frazier finished ninth followed by Vance Twitchell at tenth, Matt Hansen at 26th and JP Rooney at 33rd.

Future Meets:
The Utes will compete in the Mountain West Conference Championships on Sat., Oct. 30, in San Diego, Calif.