Weekly Release #3

Upcoming Schedule ...
Saturday, Sept. 27 -- at Roy Griak (Minneapolis, Minn.), 1 p.m. CDT
Friday, Oct. 10 -- at Michigan Intercollegiate (Allendale, Mich.), 4 p.m.

This Week: Roy Griak Invitational ...
The University of Michigan women's cross country team will send 12 harriers to Minneapolis, Minn., to compete in the 18th annual Roy Griak Invitational Saturday (Sept. 27) on the University of Minnesota's Les Bolstad Golf Course. The Wolverines will be one of over 200 college and high school cross country teams which will make up a field of more than 2,000 athletes. The Wolverines will be running in the 6,000-meter Women's Gold Competition race scheduled to start at 1 p.m. CDT.

At the Line for the Wolverines ...
Head coach Mike McGuire will send 12 runners to the line at the Roy Griak this Saturday (Sept. 27), led by All-Big Ten Conference first teamers Lindsey Gallo (Freehold, N.J./Howell HS) and Rebecca Walter (Beverly Hills, Mich./Groves HS). Also at the line for the Wolverines will be team captain Andrea Parker (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS), Amy Baker (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS), Theresa Feldkamp (Lorain, Ohio/Amherst Steele HS), Arianne Field (Kalamazoo, Mich./Hackett HS), Jen Frudden (Iowa City, Iowa/West HS), Ana Gjesdal (La Crescenta, Calif./Crescenta Valley HS), Chelsea Homan (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson HS), Anna Jones (Omaha, Neb./Marian HS), Lesley Jurasek (Concord, Mich./Albion HS) and the Miami Invitational individual champion Jessie Allen-Young (Loveland, Colo./Thompson Valley HS).
 
Last Time on the Path ...
Running in her first career race wearing the Maize and Blue, graduate student Jessie Allen-Young led Michigan to a first-place finish at the Miami Invitational Sept. 13. Allen-Young, a 2003 graduate of Dartmouth College, sprinted to the finish line for the individual title, clocking in at 17:38.9 on Miami's Western Campus, and she was one of four U-M harriers to place in the top 10 as the Wolverines finished with 33 points en route to the team title.

Following Allen-Young to the finish line was Rebecca Walter, who finished fourth with a time of 17:53.1. Michigan's two other top-10 finishers were Chelsea Loomis and Chelsea Homan. Loomis crossed in eighth (18:08.3) while Homan finished ninth (18:09.7). Finishing just outside of the top 10 was junior/sophomore Theresa Feldkamp, who posted an 11th-place showing with a time of 18:13.2.

Big Ten's Best ...
Jessie Allen-Young was named Big Ten Conference co-Athlete of the Week last Tuesday (Sept. 16) following her first-place finish at the Miami Invitational (Sept. 13). She crossed the finish line in 17:38.9 to win her first race as a Wolverine.

In the National Spotlight ...
The Wolverines fell one spot in the bi-weekly FinishLynx NCAA Division I Poll (Sept. 22) following their first-place team finish at the Miami Invitational (Sept. 13).

RANK, TEAM REGION POINTS PREV 1. Brigham Young (13) MT 390 1 2. Stanford W 375 2 3. Notre Dame GL 358 3 4. Colorado MT 355 4 5. Providence NE 333 6 6. Wake Forest SE 316 7 7. Georgetown MA 312 8 8. Villanova MA 294 5 9. North Carolina SE 269 11 10. Northern Arizona MT 264 10 11. Arkansas SC 261 15 12. Columbia NE 252 9 13. MICHIGAN GL 244 12 14. North Carolina State SE 224 14 15. Michigan State GL 213 13 16. Duke SE 180 16 17. Missouri MW 175 17 18. UCLA W 156 NR 19. Wisconsin GL 144 23 20. Arizona State W 135 19 21. Indiana GL 124 18 22. Penn State MA 121 21 23. Boston College NE 116 23 24. William & Mary SE 85 25 25. Colorado State MT 75 26 26. Marquette GL 61 27 27. Baylor SC 40 NR 28. Virginia SE 36 20 29. Southwest Missouri State MW 33 29 30. Washington W 30 NR

The Mike McGuire File ...
Mike McGuire is in his 12th season as a head coach for the Michigan women's cross country team. McGuire led the Wolverines to their fourth Big Ten Conference team title in 2002. In his first four seasons, McGuire won three consecutive Big Ten Conference and NCAA District IV team championships, and finished as high as second at the 1994 NCAA National Championship. All told, McGuire's Michigan teams have 10 top-two finishes at the Big Ten Championships and eight top-two finishes at the regional championships, winning the regional meet in 1993, '94 and '95. His teams have finished among the nation's top 10 five times at the NCAA Championships.

What's Next ...
The Wolverines have a week off from competition before they head to Allendale, Mich., and the campus of Grand Valley State University for the Michigan Intercollegiate next Friday (Oct. 10). The 5,000-meter race is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Contact: Gene Skidmore (734) 763-4423