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.