What's Ahead: The Drake women's cross country team
will look to build on its opening success at last weekend's Bulldog Classic
when it competes in the Oz Memorial meet Friday (Sept. 7) held on a 6,000-meter
course at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn. The race is scheduled to start at 4:30.
The Oz
Memorial is named after Gary Osborn, the Drake women's track and field and
cross country coach who passed away in 2000. Osborn was a longtime friend of
Minnesota coach Gary Wilson.
Last Time Out: Fifth-year senior Kirsten Lake (Parker, Colo.) dominated
a small field of runners from Drake, UNI, and Iowa State to win the Bulldog
Classic, a 4,000-meter course at Ewing Park in Des Moines.
Lake won in
a time of 14:58, a full six seconds ahead of the next runner. Sophomore Mariel Fulton (Monarch, Colo.), who was
the Bulldogs top finisher in 2011, finished eighth in 15:33.
A group of
young runners had strong showings as well. In their first race for Drake, Taylor Scholl (Prior Lake, Minn.),
15:54, Emma Johnson (Mora, Minn.),
16:06, Cassie Aerts, (David City,
Neb.), 16:07, and Emma Huston (Des
Moines, Iowa), 16:11, all finished in the top 17 of the race.
A Year Ago: The Bulldogs totaled a team score of
152, finishing in fifth place overall at the 2011 Oz Memorial at the Les
Bolstad Golf Course. A trio of young runners held the top times for the
Bulldogs. Amanda Marwitz (Crystal
Lake, Ill.) ran a time of 25:17.37 and Krista Maguire(Wausau, Wis.) crossed the line in 25:22.35 in her first
6,000-meter race on the collegiate level. Melissa Parks (Norfolk, Neb.) finished a second behind Maguire in 25:23.18.
Host
Minnesota dominated their own meet, with the lowest possible score of 15
points. The top 12 times were all run by Gopher athletes.
Up Next: The Bulldogs will return to action
on Friday, Sept. 21 back in Des Moines at the Grand View Invitational.
