Weekly Release #8
11/6/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, Nov. 10 -- at NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Terre Haute, Ind.), 12:15 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 19 -- at NCAA Championships (Greenville, S.C.), Noon
This Week
The University of Michigan women's cross country team will head to Terre Haute, Ind., to compete at the Great Lakes Regional on Saturday (Nov. 10). The meet, which is hosted by Indiana State at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course, will cover 6,000 meters of the Wabash Valley Sports Center and will begin at 12:15 p.m.
Scouting the Field
The Great Lakes Regional features three teams ranked among the 25 in the nation. Michigan State, which won the Big Ten Championships on Oct. 28, is ranked No. 6 while Marquette and Notre Dame are ranked No. 18 and No. 19, respectively. The West Region and the Northeast Region represent the two toughest regions with five teams each ranked in the top 25. The West Region includes No. 1-ranked Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and Washington. The Northeast Region's top teams consist of Boston College, Providence, Yale, Cornell and James Madison.
What the Regional Means
Nine different regional meets will be held this weekend around the nation. The top two finishing teams at each regional will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships in Greenville, S.C., on Monday, Nov. 19. With 18 teams earning automatic bids, the NCAA will then round out the field of 31 by making 13 at-large selections based on the teams performance over the year. The top four individuals not on a qualifying team will earn an invitations to Greenville, provided they finish in the top 20 at the regional.
Michigan's Lineup for the Great Lakes Regional
Katie Easton, So. (Fort Gratiot, Mich./Port Huron Northern HS)
Lindsey Gallo, So. (Freehold, N.J./Howell HS)
Edna Kollarits, Fr. (Whitehouse, Ohio/Maumee Valley C.D.S)
Andrea Parker, Fr. (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS)
Katie Ryan, Sr. (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Adams HS)
Jeanne Spink, Jr. (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea HS)
Rachel Sturtz, So. (Traverse City, Mich./Central HS)
Regional Experience
Michigan has three runners who have competed in the last two NCAA Regionals. The only one to compete in both 1999 and 2000 is senior Katie Ryan, who finished 35th last year in Ypsilanti, Mich., and 43rd in 1999 when it was held in Terre Haute, Ind. Junior Jeanne Spink will return to regional action after redshirting last year. In her previous Regional performance in '99, Spink placed 68th with a time of 18:36.50. The other member of the Maize and Blue lineup who has run in a regional is sophomore Lindsey Gallo, who ran the 6,000 meters of the Eagle Crest Golf Club last year in 22:21.4, which earned her a 49th-place finish.
Welcome Aboard
Considering five of the Wolverines seven competitors will be underclassmen, it is not surprising that four of the runners will be making their NCAA Regional debuts on Saturday. Sophomores Rachel Sturtz and Katie Easton join fellow classmate Lindsey Gallo on the U-M lineup, while freshmen Edna Kollarits and Andrea Parker get the nod in their first season.
Last Meet Recap
Michigan posted a runner-up finish at the Big Ten Conference Championships for the fifth consecutive year by posting 101 points on Oct. 28 in Savoy, Ill. Michigan State won the team title for the first time in the program's history with 35 points, breaking Wisconsin's run of six league titles in a row. Sophomore Lindsey Gallo led the Wolverines for the sixth consecutive meet by placing seventh with a time of 17:26.7. Sophomore Jeanne Spink and senior Katie Ryan also posted top 20 finishes as Spink finished 13th with a time of 17:49.3 and Ryan followed in 17th at 17:56.8.
Stepping It Up
When Michigan runs at the Great Lakes Regional, it will mark only the second time this season that the Wolverines will compete on a 6,000-meter course. Four out of the five meets the Maize and Blue competed in this year occurred on 5,000 meter courses, with the exception coming on Sept. 29 when they ran at the Iona Meet of Champions in the Bronx, N.Y. Sophomore Lindsey Gallo was Michigan's top performer in that meet with a finish of 24th (21.37.0).
FinishLynx NCAA Division I Poll (10/30/01)
Rank, School Points Prev 1. Stanford (11) 323 1 2. Brigham Young (1) 311 2 3. Georgetown (1) 299 3 4. North Carolina State 281 4 5. Boston College 265 5 6. Michigan State 260 6 7. Colorado 255 10 8. Arizona 231 11 9. North Carolina 221 9 10. Providence 210 8 11. Arizona State 199 7 12. Arkansas 186 12 13. Northern Arizona 157 17 14. Virginia 150 15 15. Yale 126 21 16. Colorado State 113 18 17. UCLA 102 22 18. Marquette 92 24 19. Notre Dame 82 NR 20. Oklahoma State 67 NR 21. Villanova 59 16 22. Cornell 56 23 23. James Madison 50 19 24. Washington 45 13 25. Duke 26 20
Contact: David Crabtree (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
