Nov. 15, 2003
Terre Haute, Ind. – Sophomore Molly Huddle paved the way for the Notre Dame women’s cross country to capture its second consecutive NCAA Great Lakes Region team title as she won the 6K race at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. The Irish were paced by five runners finishing in the top 15.
Huddle, who took second-place in the same race as a freshman last season, crossed the finish line with a time of 20:14.7. Junior Lauren King was seventh overall in the race and the second Irish scorer in the race as she registered a time of 29:48.7. Junior Kerry Meagher finished one spot in back of King with an eighth-place finish in the time of 20:56.0. Senior Megan Johnson and sophomore Stephanie Madia rounded out the scoring for the Irish as they placed 12th and 15th, respectively with times of 21:09.8 and 21:18.1.
Notre Dame won the meet with a final team total of 43 as the fourth-ranked Irish outran Michigan who finished with a score of 58. Both teams earn the region’s automatic bid for the NCAA Championships which will be held on Monday, November 24 in Cedar Rapids, Ia.
Michigan finished third with a score of 96, followed by Indiana (150), Marquette (159), Wisconsin (203), Toledo (206), Ball State (298), Butler (313) and Purdue (328) rounding out the top 10.
Also running in the race for the Irish were Katie Wales, who finished 56th overall in 22:17, and sophomore Jean Marinangeli, who was 73rd overall with a time of 22:25.5.
The Irish men’s team, ranked 18th, placed eighth at the meet and will now have to await an at-large berth into the NCAA field. Notre Dame will know its fate on Monday, November 17 when hte NCAA Division I Cross Country Committee will select 13 at-large teams for the upcoming championship.
Wisconsin won the team title with a score of 72, finishing just four points ahead of Michigan (76). Ohio State took with 116 points, followed by Central Michigan (131), Indiana (134), Miami (141) and Butler. Eastern Michigan placed ninth overall with 181, while Kent State (268) finished 10th.
Notre Dame’s top finisher in the men’s race was senior Todd Mobley earned a seventh-place finish with a time of 30:47.3. Gavin Thompson of Eastern Michigan was the overall winner of race as he crossed the finish line in the 10k race in 30:12.
Sophomore Tim Moore was the next Irish run to score as he finished 15th overall with a time of 30:54. Feshman Kurt Benninger ran a 31:19.7 to finish 38th overall, while sophomore Sean O’Donnell was 41st with a time of 31:24.7. The fifth and final Irish runner to count in the scoring was senior Brian Kerwin who was 44th overall with a time of 31:27.6.
Sophomore Kaleb Van Ort and senior David Alber were the sixth and seventh runners for the Irish. Ort finished 60th with a time of 31:37.0, while Alber was 81st in 32:32.0.