Oct. 10, 2007

Weekly Cross Country Release in PDF Format
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THIS WEEK IN PANTHER CROSS COUNTRY

Friday, Oct. 12              Bradley Classic                   Peoria, Ill.

 

After nearly two weeks off from competition, the University of Northern Iowa men's and women's cross country teams return to action Friday in the Bradley Classic. The meet, hosted by Bradley on Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Ill., begins at 4:15 p.m. The event will be run on the same course that will be used for the upcoming NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, which will be held Nov. 10.  The men's race covers 8 kilometers, while the women will run a 6K course.

 

 

BRADLEY CLASSIC AT A GLANCE

The Bradley Classic will provide a preview of the upcoming State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships (Oct. 27), as five men's and three women's teams from The Valley will compete on Newman Golf Course Friday.  Along with UNI, Bradley, Drake, Illinois State and Wichita State will bring men's and women's squads to the event, while Indiana State and Southern Illinois' women's teams will be represented. Bradley (15th), Illinois State (13th) and Drake (12th) are each ranked in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Midwest Region men's poll, while Illinois State (13th) and Wichita State (8th) are ranked in the women's poll.

 

ULREY UP TO SPEED

Sophomore Dorian Ulrey, who missed the Panthers' first event of the season with an illness, returned to the form that propelled him to a runner-up finish at last year's Missouri Valley Conference Championships in UNI's last outing at the Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 28).

 

Ulrey led the Panthers in an extremely-competitive field, finishing 55th despite running the second-fastest time of his career. He completed the five-mile course in 24 minutes, 55 seconds. Ulrey's career-best 8-kilometer time is 24:54.

 

SCHRUNK NAMED MVC ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

UNI junior Caedryn Schrunk earned State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Female Athlete of the Week honors for the week of Sept. 11.

 

Schrunk took the top spot at the Bradley Open (Sept. 7), finishing the 5K course at Detweiller Park in 17:58 to lead UNI to the women's team title. Schrunk was part of a 1-2 finish that powered the Panthers to the team crown over Indiana State, Western Illinois, Bradley and Northern Illinois. 

 

The junior from Spirit Lake, Iowa, finished three seconds ahead of teammate Traci Hawley, who finished as the runner-up, and a full 27 seconds ahead of third-place Kayla Alexander of Indiana State. 

 

Schrunk was the only competitor to break the 18-minute barrier at the Bradley Open.

 

FAST COMPANY

Junior Caedryn Schrunk and senior Traci Hawley opened the season with two of the fastest 5K times in UNI history at the Bradley Open (Sept. 7). Schrunk won the event with a clocking of 17:58, the sixth-fastest 5K in school history, while Hawley finished as the runner-up in 18:01, the seventh-best time on UNI's all-time list.  Hawley already owns the third-fastest 5K by a UNI runner, the 17:51.70 she ran at the 2006 Missouri Valley Conference Championships.

 

FIRST TO GO BELOW

Traci Hawley was the first Missouri Valley Conference athlete to time in below the 18-minute mark in the 5K this season. The senior's time of 17:58 is the fastest 5K in MVC women's competition through two weeks of the 2007 campaign.

 

LAWSON FOUND

Chris Lawson led the way for the UNI men at the Bradley Open (Sept. 7), scoring a career-best ninth-place finish. Lawson's previous best finish was a 10th-place showing in the 2003 Redbird Challenge.

 

PANTHERS IN THE RANKS

The UNI women's team was ranked 13th in the season's first regional rankings from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The Panthers earned their ranking in the Midwest Region along with three other Missouri Valley Conference teams, as Wichita State began the season ranked sixth, Missouri State was ninth and Illinois State was No. 15.

 

SEASON PREVIEW

Women

There is little question of where leadership will come from for the UNI women's cross country team. The Panthers welcome back a pair of All-Missouri Valley Conference athletes in senior Traci Hawley (Ames, Iowa/Ames) and junior Caedryn Schrunk (Spirit Lake, Iowa/Spirit Lake), and both will be expected to help UNI improve upon its fourth-place finish at the 2006 MVC Championships.

 

Hawley placed third at the MVC Championships by running the third-fastest 5K time in UNI history, a clocking of 17:50.71. Schrunk was eighth at the conference meet, running a personal-best 18:13.40.  Both return to headline a group of six returners for the Panthers, who have just two newcomers on their 2007 roster.

 

Hawley and Schrunk were the top two finishers for UNI in five of the Panthers' six meets last season.

 

Head coach Chris Bucknam also welcomes back sophomore Andrea Wacker (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy), who placed 30th at the MVC Championships and then posted a 79th-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional.

 

UNI placed 13th as a team at the regional meet, and junior Amanda Huling (Hampton, Iowa/Hampton-Dumont) is the Panthers' other returning competitor from that event, in which she placed 130th.

 

Also back for UNI are junior Whitney Johnson (Adel, Iowa/ADM) and sophomore Jessa Schweitzer.

 

New to the Panther lineup is sophomore Samantha Nygren (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls), who joins the Panthers after two years away from cross country. Nygren had an outstanding prep career, including two district championships and a third-place finish in Class 4A at the Iowa state championships in 2004. 

Regina Reinig (Portsmouth, Iowa/Harlan) enters her first season with the Panthers coming off a high school career that saw her win a state championship and finish second three times at the Iowa state track and field meet.

 

Men

Much like their female counterparts, the Panther men return a clear leader for the 2007 season with their sights set on moving up in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

 

A group composed of six returners and five newcomers, the UNI men will turn to sophomore Dorian Ulrey (Port Byron, Ill./Riverdale) to lead the charge following a freshman season that saw Ulrey emerge as the future of distance running at UNI.

 

Ulrey, who was the Panthers' top finisher in all six meets last season, capped his initial campaign for Bucknam's squad with a runner-up finish at the MVC Championships and a 31st-place showing at the NCAA Midwest Championships. He followed that with a strong winter and spring on the track as UNI's top runner in nearly every distance event, breaking the school record in the 1,500 meters and qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships to go along with new UNI indoor records in the mile and 1,000 meters.

 

Also back is senior Chris Lawson (Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny), who finished third among the UNI runners in five of the Panthers' six events a year ago, as well as seniors Mike Clancy (Iowa City, Iowa/West), Chris Cooper (Dayton, Iowa/Southeast Webster) and Andy Schon (Waukon, Iowa/Waukon) and junior Nick Sorbe (Storm Lake, Iowa/Storm Lake).

 

Bucknam welcomes five newcomers, including sophomore Tim Fulton (Decorah, Iowa/Decorah), who will begin his third season with the UNI track and field program. Also joining the Panthers are four freshman, Corbin Miller (Marshalltown, Iowa/Marshalltown), Jason Mitchell (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls), Kevin Morgan (Des Moines, Iowa/Lincoln) and Nathan Nissen (Marion, Iowa/Marion).

 

MVC POLL: UNI WOMEN THIRD, MEN SIXTH

The Panther women received 80 points in the MVC's preseason coaches poll, placing them behind preseason favorite and defending MVC champion Wichita State, which earned 99 points and nine of the possible 10 first-place votes, as well as second-place Missouri State. The Bears tallied 90 points and received the remaining first-place vote.

 

The UNI men's squad was tabbed to finish sixth and garnered 39 points in the preseason poll, which named Southern Illinois (77 points) the league's preseason favorite.

           

UNI CROSS COUNTRY ON THE INTERNET

The latest information on the UNI cross country program and all 18 Panther teams can be found at the official Web site of UNI Athletics, www.UNIPanthers.com. Along with live streaming audio and video, fans and media can access updated schedules, results, news, statistics and profiles of student-athletes at the site, which is updated daily by UNI Athletics Media Relations.

 

PRESS LUNCHEONS

Each Monday, UNI's in-season coaches will speak at noon in the back room of Pepper's Grill and Sports Pub, located on 18th Street in Cedar Falls.  The public and media are invited to attend and hear what the coaches have to say about their teams.