SepThe University of Minnesota cross country team will begin its 2000 season this weekend. Head Coach Steve Plasencia will be splitting his squad and sending teams to two different meets on Saturday, September 9. Half of the squad will run at the St. John's Invitational and the other half will run at Minnesota-Duluth.

The cross country team, which begins the season ranked 12th in the nation, returns eight letterwinners from last season, including 1999 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Will McComb. The team is led by senior captain Jason Owen< /a> and junior captain Joe Corr. The other returning upperclassman is junior Big Ten mile champion Andrew McKessock.

Plasencia will also look to a strong group of sophomores to help the team make its fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Championship. The1998 Minnesota State High School cross country champion, Neil Hanson, Luke Mullranin, Andy Kummer, Erik Quam, Scott Utne and McComb make up the talented sophomore class. Redshirt freshman Brent Loberg trained with the team last season, but was unable to compete due to injury and is looking forward to competition this season.

The team also added six talented freshmen to the 2000 squad. Minnesota natives Michael Bialick, Josh DoBell, Ryan Ford, Toby Henkels, Jon Ortloff and Martin Robeck all had stellar high school careers and are looking to do even more at the collegiate level. Henkels ran on the Minnesota track team last season and was a member of the Big Ten Indoor Champion distance medley relay team.

These 16 talented men make up the 2000 Golden Gopher Cross Country team. The season schedule follows. The highlight of the home schedule will be the Roy Griak Invitational, hosted by the University of Minnesota at Les Bolstad/University Golf Course on September 23.