Michigan State University Athletics
Cross Country Prepares for Pre-National Meet
10/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 16, 2009
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Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Walt | Patrick | Emily
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State cross country team will travel to Terre Haute, Ind. this weekend to compete in the Pre-National meet hosted by Indiana State University on Saturday, Oct. 17. The men's blue 8K race is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m., with the women's blue 6K race following at 12:20 p.m. The women enter the event ranked 24th nationally, and continue to hold on to second-place spot in the Great Lakes Region, behind rival Michigan.
"This is a big meet for us," said director of cross country and track & field Walt Drenth. "It is the first in a series of big meets for us on our schedule, and we feel like we need to perform well. Primarily, this will set us up to participate in the championship season, starting with Big Ten's after this, then onto regionals and hopefully on the nationals after that."
The men's team enters the race ranked sixth regionally and looks to improve upon last year's 14th-place finish. Junior Patrick Grosskopf (Corunna, Mich.) paced the team last year with a time of 24:28.3, finishing 56th overall. Junior Spencer Beatty (Harbor Springs, Mich.) placed 97th overall and finished fifth for the Spartan men.
On the women's side, at last year's Pre-National event junior Carlie Green (Milford, Mich.) finished third for team, clocking in at 21:17.5, finishing 50th overall. Redshirt junior Emily MacLeod (Loveland, Ohio) placed 69th overall and fourth for the Spartan women.
In this years event a total of 147 teams will compete, including eight of the top 10 nationally ranked men's teams, and seven of the top 10 nationally ranked women's teams. The event will take place at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center with gates opening at 9:00 a.m.
Players Mentioned
