Cross Country Set For Big Ten Championships
10/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 30, 2008
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
•Coach •Nicole •Shane
The Michigan State cross country teams will take the short trip to Ann Arbor this Sunday (Nov. 2) to compete in the Big Ten Championships. The women's team, currently ranked ninth in the nation, will run the 6,000-meter course at 10:45 a.m. The men's squad enters the meet ranked No. 5 in the Great Lakes region and will compete on the 8,000-meter course at 11:30 a.m.
"We've talked about every meet being a stepping stone to the championship season, and here we are and everyone is excited to go," said head director of cross country and track and field Walt Drenth.
The women's team is coming off a fourth-place finish at Pre-Nationals two weeks ago where they were led by seniors Nicole Bush and Lisa Senakiewich who finished sixth and 17th, respectively.
At last year's Big Ten Championships, Bush placed second overall with a time of 19:49.38, followed by Senakiewich who placed 12th and Sarah Price in 19th. Other current Spartans that competed in last year's event include Ashley Casavant, Emily Langenberg and Leah Elenbaas.
"We were second by a point last year and I think we've learned a lot," said Drenth. "We're a better team than we were last year, whether that translates into a championship remains to be seen."
Sophomore Pat Grosskopf led the men's squad to a 14th place finish at Pre-Nationals this season and has been one of the team's stronger runners.
The men's squad finished seventh at last year's Big Ten Championships and the returning Spartans who competed in last year's event include Grosskopf, juniors Max Goldak and Nick Katseferas and sophomores Spencer Beatty and Mike Quick.
"We are a much improved group on men's side," said Drenth. "We've made a dramatic improvement as a program and I'm excited to see our guys race."
The Spartan men have four total Big Ten Championship wins while the women have two, with the last one coming in 2001. The last individual Big Ten Champion was Danette Doetzel in 2004.
Players Mentioned
