Michigan State University
Big Ten Championships
Men's Team Places Third At Big Ten Championships.
10/28/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Oct. 28, 2001
SAVOY, Ill. - The Michigan State women's cross country team is the new Big Ten cross country champion after capturing first place at the 2001 Big Ten Championships, held at the Orange and Blue University Golf Course in Savoy, Ill. It is MSU's second-ever Big Ten Championship as the 1981 squad won the inaugural Big Ten title.
MSU finished with 35 points, 66 points in front of second-place Michigan (101 points) and 71 points ahead of 2000 Big Ten Champion Wisconsin (106 points). The 66-point spread was the third-largest margin in Big Ten cross country championship history.
"The women ran exceptionally well today," said MSU head coach Jim Stintzi. "I thought going into the Big Ten Championships that we had a chance to win it all. I just didn't know that we'd win it in such dramatic fashion, 35-101.
"We expected our biggest challenge to come from Wisconsin but our women went out front early and stayed there. We placed four women in the top 10 and five in the top 15 to really dominate the meet.
"This is a tough-minded team and today, everyone fired on all cylinders. This team has worked hard all fall and it dedicated itself to winning the Big Ten championship. And today, everything fell right into place."
The men's team recorded a third-place finish with 94 points. Wisconsin (28 points) captured the 2001 Big Ten crown, while Michigan was second with 71 points. It was Wisconsin's third-straight Big Ten title.
"The men ran well today and it was by far, our best performance of the year as a group," said Stintzi. "We still have some work to do. We've set our sights on catching up to Michigan in the next meet."
On the women's side, senior Ann Somerville (Ironwood, Mich.) was MSU's top finisher, placing second with a time of 17:06.9. Somerville was followed by sophomore Michelle Carson (Winnipeg, Man.) in third place (17:18.4), sophomore Jamie Kryminski (Corunna, Mich.) in sixth (17:25.3), freshman Katie Anderson in ninth (17:41.7) and junior Cindy Durocher (Parry Sound, Ont.) in 14th (17:49.7).
For the men's team, freshman Chris Toloff (Novi, Mich.) finished ninth with a time of 24:15.4. Junior Ben Evans followed closely with an 11th-place finish (24:18.8) while sophomore Andy Marsh (Grand Ledge, Mich.) finished 12th (24:19.7). Rounding out the Spartan team was senior Jason Mueller (Shelby, Ohio), who placed 24th (24:36.1), sophomore Andrew Alley (Calgary, Alberta), who finished 38th (24:50.8) and sophomore Brian Wilson (Clifford, Mich.), who placed 39th (24:52.5).
The Spartans return to action Nov. 10 in Terre Haute, Ind., at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.
