University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Announces 2016 Schedule
6/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
2016 Schedule
MINNEAPOLIS - The Big Ten Conference Cross Country Championship returns to Les Bolstad Course to highlight the Golden Gopher women's cross country team's 2016 schedule. Minnesota will host six meets total at Les Bolstad Course, and the season wraps up with the Gophers looking for the program's 12th-straight NCAA appearance.
The 2016 Big Ten Cross Country Championship kicks off the Gophers' championship season on Sunday, Oct. 30. This year marks the fourth time that Minnesota will serve as host of the event (1990, 1995, 2005). The Gophers will look to capitalize on home-course advantage and improve upon their fourth-place finish at last year's B1G meet. The league championship is the fifth of six meets Minnesota will host at Les Bolstad this season as the Gophers start and end the regular season at home.
Minnesota begins the 2016 season with three consecutive home meets, unofficially opening the 2016 campaign with the annual Intrasquad meet (Sept. 2) before the Oz Memorial marks the official season-opener on Friday, Sept. 9. Minnesota then has two weeks to prepare for the annual Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 24.
The team will split up for two meets on the road the weekends of Sept. 30-Oct. 1 and again Oct. 14-15. Minnesota's top 12 runners will compete at the Notre Dame Invitational, the lone new meet from the Gophers' 2015 schedule, on Saturday, Oct. 1 after the team's second 24 runners head to the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational on Friday, Sept. 30. The annual Wisconsin Invitational (Oct. 14) and the Tori Neubauer Invitational (Oct. 15) are up next before the Gophers return to Les Bolstad Course.
Three more home meets follow, including Jack's Twilight Run (Oct. 21) and Rocky's Run (Nov. 6) on either side of the 2016 Big Ten Championship (Oct. 30). Jack's Twilight Run and Rocky's Run offer area runners and Gopher fans two opportunities to race on Minnesota's home course as both are held annually as open meets at Les Bolstad Course.
Jack's Twilight Run (Oct. 21) honors the late Minnesota equipment manager Jack Johnson. After serving as the Golden Gophers' equipment manager for over three decades, Johnson passed away in February 2006 after a battle with cancer. Johnson will always be a part of the Minnesota women's cross country and track programs.
Meanwhile, Rocky's Run (Nov. 6) was founded in 1981 to honor former Gopher runner Rochelle "Rocky" Racette, who died in a car accident that fall at the age of 22. While at the University of Minnesota, Racette was an All-American in track & field and cross country and champion of the Big Ten and Drake Relays 5,000-meter titles. The annual race is staged by the many members of the running community who knew and loved her. Racette's legacy lives on through the memory of those who knew her, and through Rocky's Run and the scholarship for which it raises money.
Following Rocky's Run, the NCAA postseason begins with the Midwest Regional hosted by the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. The Gophers look to secure their 12th-straight NCAA Championship bid and a trip to Terre Haute, Ind., for the national meet on Saturday, Nov. 19.
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