Gophers Face Nations Best Tomorrow in Madison 22 will race on Saturday at the Tori Neubauer
Molly Kayfes has had a good start to 2011 and hopes to continue it on Friday in Madison
Oct. 13, 2011
The No. 21 University of Minnesota women’s cross country team will travel to Wisconsin this weekend for a pair of races. On Friday, the top 14 women will be competing in Madison, Wis., at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational. This is a new meet for the Gophers, as in years past they would be racing at the Pre-NCAA Meet. The 6k race will take place at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course and will have two different divisions, a championship race and a “B” race. The championship race is set to begin at 1p.m. and the “B” race will run at 2:20 p.m. Both races will be covered on flotrack.org.
On Saturday, the Gophers second group will race at the Tori Neubauer Invitational. This meet holds a special place for Coach Wilson as he coached Tori Neubauer to several national titles while at UW-La Crosse. 25 teams from upper midwest will toe the line at 11:30 a.m. central time.
Set to Race at Madison…
Air Force #14 Arizona Arizona State Boston College #27 BYU #10 Cal #30 Clemson #22 Florida Georgia Harvard Illinois Indiana #23 Iowa #9 Iowa State James Madison Kansas #15 Michigan State Nebraska #7 New Mexico Northern Arizona #13 North Carolina NC State Northwestern #25 Notre Dame Ohio State #12 Oregon #28 Princeton #2 Providence Purdue San Francisco #6 Stanford Stony Brook #8 Syracuse Texas A&M Toledo UCLA Vanderbilt #1 Villanova #24 Washington William & Mary Wisconsin
The women’s cross country team has been moving up in the national USTFCCCA poll. Currently the Gophers are ranked No. 21 and were preseason ranked No. 30. Minnesota is now No. 2 in the Midwest Regional poll behind Iowa State.
What the Gophers have done so far in 2011…
- Minnesota won the Oz Memorial on Sept. 9 with a perfect team score of 15 points.
- Stephanie Price picked up Big Ten Runner of the Week honors, after her first place finish at the Oz Memorial.
- The Gophers finished in fifth place at the Roy Griak Invitational, beating three teams ranked ahead of them in the NCAA poll.
- Price earned her second Big Ten Runner of the Week honor, after her fifth place finish at the Griak.
- On Friday September 30, Minnesota’s second group finished second at the Blugold Invitational. Andrea Rediger led the Gophers, finishing sixth overall.
- On October 1, the Gophers Top 12 runners ran to a first place finish at the South Dakota State Invitational. Price was once again Minnesota’s number one runner and won the individual title.
Looking Forward
Minnesota will host the Jack’s Run next Saturday October 22 at 10 a.m. This race is a fundraiser in memory of long time Gopher equipment manager Jack Johnson. The race is a 6k and open to the public. All proceeds go to the Jack Johnson Scholarship and the Angel Network. The following weekend the Gophers head to the 2011 Big Ten Championship on Sunday, October 30 at the University of Illinois Arboretum. The Gophers finished third overall in 2010.
