Oct. 19, 2002
Terre Haute, Ind. – The 13th-ranked Notre Dame women’s cross country team continued its impressive season by finishing tied for fourth (out of at the Asics/Pacesetter Pre-National Meet at the Wabash Valley Sports Center Course, site of the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships in late November.
Sophomore Lauren King (Toronto, Canada) was the first Irish runner to cross the 6,000-meter race as she placed six with a time of 20:24.00, while freshman teammate Molly Huddle (Elmira, N.Y.) took seventh with a time of 20:25.9.
The Irish men took 11th in their race with a final total of 336 and were led by freshman Tim Moore’s (Novi, Mich.) 22nd-place finish as he covered the 8,000-meter course in 24:30.00.
The women’s race was won by Stanford, ranked second in the country, as the Cardinal finished with 57 behind four of its runners finishing in the top 10. Wake Forest, ranked 26th nationally, took second with a total of 165, followed by No. 6 North Carolina Statee (199), Notre Dame and No. 21 Northern Arizona each with 214, No. 12 Columbia (231), No. 16 Virginia (233), No. 8 Arizona State (254), No. 17 UCLA (296) and No. 23 Marquette (299) rounded out the top 10 team finishes.
Vicki Gill of Florida State was the top overall finisher in the race with a time of 19:54.8.
Running in her third race this season, King’s sixth-place finish was her third top-10 finish of the season. Huddle was running in just her second race of the year after finishing fourth in early October at the Notre Dame Invitational.
Senior Jennifer Handley (Barrie, Ontario) was the third Irish runner across the finish line as she placed 37th overall with a time of 21:21.00. Freshman Stephanie Madia (Wexford, Pa.) and sophomore Katie Wales (Carmel, Ind.) rounded out the scoring for the Irish as they finshed 71st and 93rd overall, respectively, in the field of 254 runners. Madia completed the course with a time of 21:47.00, while Wales was clocked in 22:00.
Also running in the race, but not scoring were senior Jennifer Fibuch (Leawood, Kan.) and sophomoe Megan Johnson (Seattle, Wash,) who were 124th and 236th, respectively.
The men’s race was won by No. 1 Stanford as the Cardinal finished with a score of 27. Stanford was followed by No. 4 Northern Arizona (92) in the team race, No. 10 Brigham Young (171), No. 17 Indiana (237), No. 20 Butler (251), No. 14 North Carolina State (260), No. 27 Darthmouth (264), No. 22 Arizona State (285), Utah State (302) and Princeton (326).
Kip Kangogo won the race as the top individual finisher with a time of 23:45.90.
Junior David Alber (Dayton, Ohio) was 34th in the race with a time of 24:45 and was followed by freshman Eric Morrison (Ancaster, Ontario) in 83rd (25:17); junior Todd Mobley (West Bloomfield, Mich.) in 94th (25:24.00) and sophomore Sean O’Donnell (Kansas City, Mo.) rounded out the scoring for the Irish as he placed 103rd in 25:28.00. Senior John Keane (Winona, Minn.) and freshman Kaleb Van Ort (Waterloo, Ind.) were 179th (26:06.00) and 183rd (26:10.00)., respectively.
In the women’s 6,000-meter open race, Notre Dame took third place with a score of 146, behind No.1 BYU (18) and No. 5 Georgetown (132). Freshman Loryn King (Arlington Heights, Ill.) recorded the best finish for an Irish runner as she covered the course in 21:27 with a seventh-place finish overall.
In the men’s 8,000-meter open race, junior Brian Kerwin (Point Pleasant, Mich.) posted a 19th-place finish (25:30.50) and sophomore Ryan Johnson (Auburn, Ind.) was 20th (25:30.80).
Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will be in action again on Friday, November 1 at the BIG EAST Championship slated to be run at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.