Nov. 10, 2005
East Lansing, Mich. - The Michigan State women's cross country team returns to action this week, when it heads to the Great Lakes NCAA Regional in Bloomington, Ind., on Nov. 12. The Spartans, coming off of a fifth-place finish at the 2005 Big Ten Championship, placed third at the regional qualifying meet a season ago. A strong performance will catapult the Green and White to its fifth-straight National Championship appearance.
Junior Michelle Rafferty (Carmel, Ind.) is the top returning Spartan finisher from the 2004 regional championships. Rafferty finished 16th, with a time of 20:48.2, in the meet last season, hosted by Eastern Michigan University. Fellow junior Katie Forsyth (Bath, Mich.) placed 30th with a time of 21:08.9, sophomore Nicole Bush (Wyoming, Mich.) was 34th in 21:10.8, sophomore Lisa Senakiewich (Davison, Mich.) finished 40th (21:14.6) and senior Brittany Ballard (Midland, Mich.) was 45th 21:23.0.
The Spartans will be competing against 34 other schools in the 6K race scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. MSU currently ranks 30th in the Finish Lynx/NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country poll and stands fifth in the Great Lakes Region.
"I am excited to see how this group responds after our Big Ten meet," said head coach Rita Arndt-Molis. "A bid to nationals isn't going to be given to us, we'll have to earn it, but we are in a position where we can control our own outcome."
The NCAA Championships will be held just over a week later, at Indiana State University, on Monday, Nov. 21, in Terre Haute, Ind.
