Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Ready for Big Ten Championships at Illinois
10/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country & Track
Oct. 28, 2011
Event: 2011 Big Ten Cross Country Championships
Site: Champaign, Ill. • U of I Arboretum
Date: Sunday, Oct. 30 • 11:45 a.m.
Event Website: FightingIllini.com
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern already has put together a season marked by strong team finishes and individual personal bests, but the stakes are raised this weekend when the Wildcats take the line at the 2011 Big Ten Cross Country Championships hosted by Illinois. The women's 6K race will go off at 11:45 a.m. Sunday at the U of I Arboretum in Champaign.
Northwestern enters the conference championship meet touting one of its highest regional rankings in recent history having moved up to No. 5 in the USTFCCCA Midwest Regional polls. The Big Ten features prominently in both the regional and national polls: conference teams occupy five of the top seven spots in the Great Lakes region and four of the top six in the Midwest, with four Big Ten squads earning a national ranking.
Below is the list of runners competing for NU this weekend along with their career-best 6K finishes (cross country only) and previous seasons in which they competed in the Big Ten Championships:
Sophie Ewald: 21:38 • 2008
Lexie Goldsmith: 21:22 • 2010
Ashley Greenwell: 22:03 • First conference meet
Audrey Huth: 20:37 • 2009, 2010
Rachel Kaminski: 21:36 • 2008
Michelle Moriset: 21:22 • 2010
Lauren Neuschel: 22:17 •2010
Ann Powers: 21:59 • 2010
Molly Waterhouse: 21:39 • 2010
Looking Back
A year ago at the Big Ten Championships, Northwestern was led by a 20th place finish by then-sophomore Audrey Huth, marking the highest finish by a Wildcat at the conference meet since 2003. Huth clocked in at 20:57.7, a time that she would best by a full 20 seconds two weeks later at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships meet.
Also scoring points for NU at that meet was then-freshman Michelle Moriset (21:21.8) and Molly Waterhouse (21:46) as well as Abby Tracy (22:09) and Julia Buford.
Complete results from Sunday's meet will be posted to NUsports.com as well as the Championships homepage on FightingIllini.com linked at the top of this release.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
