Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Releases 2009 Meet Schedule
6/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country & Track
June 29, 2009
Complete 2009-10 Cross Country Schedule
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern head coach April Likhite, now entering her sixth season at the helm of NU's cross country program, has announced a 2009 fall schedule for her squad that features three meets in the greater Chicagoland region. The Wildcats raise the curtain on this year's season on Aug. 29 at the UIC Home Opener in Palos Hills, Ill.
"After a very successful spring track season I am really eager for our fall season to really get underway and I know our girls feel the same way," Likhite said. "I'm thrilled about the large group of returners we have this year as well as the talent that we're bringing in with our freshmen class."
Following the meet at Illinois-Chicago, Likhite's team remains in the state for its next two meets beginning with the Huskie Open at Northern Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 12. From there it's off to Normal, Ill., to compete in the Illinois Intercollegiates at Illinois State.
On Sept. 26, Northwestern is slated to race in the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by Minnesota, winner of the 2008 Big Ten championship. NU kicks off October at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational hosted by Loyola (Chicago), the only regular-season holdover meet from a year ago. Northwestern is the meet's defending champion after besting a 32-team field last year thanks in part to top-10 finishes by Carly Brown and rising sophomore Sophie Ewald.
Northwestern's final two meets of the regular season are the Bradley Classic on Oct. 16 and the Illini Open on Oct. 23. This year's Big Ten Championships will take place in University Park, Pa., on the campus of Penn State on Nov. 1.
Missouri State will serve as the host of the NCAA Regional Championships, where Northwestern has improved on its previous year's finish in each of the past two seasons, taking 14th last season at Oklahoma State.
Northwestern will rely heavily on contributions from what was a very strong freshman class in 2008, most notably Ewald, who placed first among NU runners in four different meets as a freshman. In addition, Rachel Kaminski, Rachel Edwards and Abby Tracy are looking to build on strong rookie campaigns.
