FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations
Midwest Open Entry List
Cross Country Season Meet Info
SOMERS, Wis. (Sept. 11, 2013)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside cross country teams gear up for the season opener this week, looking to defend its home turf on Saturday at the Midwest Open held at the scenic Dannehl National Cross Country Course.
The Ranger men head into the race having won the past two Midwest Open titles, claiming the race in 2012 with 30 points to outdistance second place Michigan Tech University by a 24-point margin. UW-Parkside opens its 2013 campaign ranked seventh in the Midwest Region. The Rangers return six of their seven runners from last season's NCAA Division II Midwest Regional, including 2012 All-American Evan Lewandowski.
Lewandowski finished 34th at the 2012 NCAA Division II Championships, securing his first All-American certificate after clocking a fifth place finish at the NCAA regional meet hosted by the Rangers. Also back for the Green and White is Cody Kurscheidt, Eric Lindelsee, Ron Hedman, KJ Matuszak and Gabe Poser. Those aforementioned six helped the squad place third at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships and tallied a sixth place finish at the regional meet, falling one spot shy of earning a bid to the NCAA Championships as a team.
On the women's side, the Ranger harriers head into Saturday ranked ninth in the Midwest region with five returning runners from last year's top seven, including three of the top four. UW-Parkside finished 10th at the 2012 Midwest Regional after placing fifth at the GLVC Championships.
The Rangers lose All-American Jessica Watychowicz but return a solid crop of runners including experienced veterans Taylor Miller, Kelsey Steenstrup, Amanda Zittleman, Courtney Frederick and Bailey Kerschieter.
The UW-P women have finished in the top two in each of the past three years at the Midwest Open, winning the meet in 2011 while taking second billing in 2012, scoring 77 points to finish 30 points shy of Northern Michigan University.
Saturday's meet will feature over 400 student-athletes from 17 institutions, representing all three divisions of the NCAA. The meet is the first of three home races the Rangers will host during the year, also conducting the Lucian Rosa Invitational on Oct. 12 and for the second year in a row the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional. The Dannehl National Cross Country Course will also host the Big East Championships this fall along with several premier high school races, including the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.
Saturday's women's 5,000-meter race begins at 10 a.m. with the men's 8,000-meter race starting at 11 a.m.
