University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Head to Louisville, UW-Eau Claire
9/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
| UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational | |||||||||||
| Date | Friday, Oct. 2 | ||||||||||
| Location | Whitetail Golf Course | Colfax, Wis. | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Meet Info | Course Map | ||||||||||
| Time | Women's 6K: 4:15 p.m. | ||||||||||
| Greater Louisville Classic | |||||||||||
| Date | Saturday, Oct. 3 | ||||||||||
| Location | E.P. Tom Sawyer Park | Louisville, Ky. | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Meet Info | Entries | Course Map | ||||||||||
| Time | Women's 5K: 10:15 a.m. | ||||||||||
| Coverage | USTFCCCA Nat. Results Wall | @GopherWCCTF | Flotrack | ||||||||||
Sept. 30, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS - The Golden Gophers will compete at two meets this week as the No. 23 Minnesota women's cross country team heads to the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational on Friday and the Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday.
About the Blugold Invitational
The Blugold Invitational women's 6K race is set for 4:15 p.m. Friday at the Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, Wis. Team scores will not be kept.
About the Greater Louisville Classic
Twelve Gophers will race at the Greater Louisville Classic 5K at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, KY., at 10:15 a.m. Saturday. FloTrack will provide on-site coverage of the meet, which serves as a course preview for the 2015 NCAA National Championship.
The women's field includes six nationally ranked teams, No. 6 Iowa State, No. 8 Michigan, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 13 West Virginia, No. 19 Penn State, and No. 23 Minnesota. In addition, Big Ten foe Ohio State is set to compete, setting up five B1G teams to race head-to-head.
Minnesota's roster for Louisville is made up of Courtney Alama, Danielle Anderson, Liz Berkholtz, Emily Betz, Haley Johnson, Taylor Mikkalson, Patty O'Brien, Jamie Piepenburg, Madeline Strandemo, Stacey Swatek, Kaila Urick, and Tess Wasowicz.
2014 Blugold Invitational Rewind
Rebecca Rethwisch, Anne Ferguson, and Chelsea Pettit led the Gophers at last year's Blugold Invitational, which featured over 400 runners from 26 teams. Rethwisch placed 18th overall, clocking a time of 22:58.1 over the 6K course. Ferguson was the second Gopher in 23:04.3 for 21st place, followed by Pettit in 26th (23:10.3) overall.
2014 Greater Louisville Classic Rewind
Wisconsin took home both the team and individual titles at last year's Greater Louisville Classic. The Badgers' Sarah Disanza won the individual crown in 16:41.92 , picking up a 10-second victory over Tennessee's Chelsea Blaase. Wisconsin scored 37 points ahead of team runner-up West Virginia (64 points) and third-place team Virginia Tech (197 points).
Last Time Out: Roy Griak Invitational
All five scoring runners placed in the top 50 as Minnesota placed third with 141 points at the 30th annual Roy Griak Invitational. Haley Johnson and Liz Berkholtz led the Gophers with top-20 finishes. Johnson finished 13th overall in 21:53.2, marking the highest individual finish by a Gopher since Laura Docherty took 11th in 2013, and Berkholtz took 19th in 22:06.3.
Behind Johnson and Berkholtz, Madeline Strandemo (22:27.4), Kaila Urick (22:28.9), and Jamie Piepenburg (22:41.3) completed Minnesota's scoring runners and finished 33rd, 35th, and 49th in the overall standings. Minnesota placed third behind team champion Boise State (37 points) and Michigan State (116 points), and Weber State (147 points) and California (169 points) rounded out the top five behind the Gophers.
Gophers Climb to No. 23 in USTFCCCA Rankings
Minnesota moved up to No. 23 in the nation and remained second in the Midwest region according to this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll and regional rankings. The Gophers have their highest ranking since landing at No. 20 over the last three weeks of the 2014 regular season rankings.
No. 1 New Mexico, No. 2 Colorado, No. 3 Providence, No. 4 Stanford, and No. 5 Oregon State make up the nation's top five teams this week. Two teams fell from the top-five this week as Iowa State slipped from No. 2 to No. 6, and Georgetown fell from No. 4 to No. 9. The Big Ten has six teams receiving national recognition in No. 8 Michigan, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 12 Michigan State, No. 19 Penn State, No. 23 Minnesota, and Purdue (received 13 votes).
Up Next: Wisconsin adidas Invitational and Tori Neubauer Invitational
Following a week off from competition, the Gophers will be back in action at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Friday, Oct. 16. Minnesota will also send runners to the Tori Neubauer Invitational hosted by UW-La Crosse on Saturday, Oct. 17.
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Players Mentioned
