Wednesday, November 7, 2012
What's Ahead: The
Drake women's cross country squad will compete at the 2012 NCAA Cross Country
Midwest Regional on Friday (Nov. 9) in Springfield, Mo. The 6-kilometer race,
held at the MSU Cross Country Course, starts at noon.
About the Meet: The women's field consists of 35 teams from across the Midwest Region.
The meet helps to decide which teams and athletes move on to the NCAA
Championship in Louisville, Ky. on Nov. 17. The top two finishing teams, as
well as the top four individual finishers in the race not on advancing teams,
will move on to the NCAA championships.
In the women's field the
Bulldogs will see some familiar and impressive competition. Iowa State, the top-ranked
squad in the region, is seeking its third-straight women's championship after
recently winning its second consecutive Big 12 championship. Minnesota, which
hosted Drake twice this season, is third in the region.
Last Time Out: Fifth-year
senior Kirsten Lake (Parker, Colo.) capped
her impressive Missouri Valley career for the Bulldogs with her best ever
finish at the 2012 MVC Cross Country Championships on Oct 27 in Normal, Ill.
Lake completed the 5-kilometer course at Weibring Golf Course in 17:47 to
finish sixth.
Drake has had significant
contributions from young runners all year and the MVC Championship race was no
different. Three freshman scored points to help the Bulldogs to a seventh-place
finish in the 10-team field.
Freshman Taylor Scholl (Prior Lake, Minn.) was the second Drake runner to
finish, coming in 26th place in 18:21. Celeste Arteaga (Rock Island, Ill.), Amanda Marwitz (Crystal Lake, Ill.), and Emma Huston (Des Moines, Iowa) finished in spots 45, 46, and 47th-place respectively,
in a field of 75 runners.
Arteaga crossed
the finish line in 19:11 while Marwitz was
a second behind in 19:12. Huston followed
in 19:14.
A Year Ago:
The Bulldogs were paced by freshman Mariel Fulton (Louisville, Colo.), who finished in 117th place at the NCAA Midwest
Regional in DeKalb, Ill. Fulton completed
the 6-kilometer race at the Northern Illinois North 40 Course in 23:16.90.
With only three runners-all
freshmen-qualifying for the race, Drake did not qualify for a team score.
Melissa Parks (Norfolk,
Neb.) capped off her freshman campaign crossing the finish line in 23:29.87 to
finish in 128th place. Fellow Bulldog freshman Krista Maguire (Wausau, Wis.) followed, clocking in at 23:52.34 to
finish in 144th-place.
