Notre Dame Blue & Gold Invitational

The 2009-2010 Track and Field teams started the season with a strong showing at the Blue & Gold Invitational hosted by Notre Dame on Friday. Highlights included victories in seven events, two MU freshman records and twelve BIG EAST indoor qualifiers. Other teams at the meet included DePaul, Detroit Mercy and the host Notre Dame.

Click here for meet results.
Click here for the GoMarquette.com meet recap.
Click here for the Marquette Tribune meet recap.

Freshman Records:
Spencer Agnew - 3000m - 8:31.42 breaks Brent Des Roches record of 8:32.68 set in 2003.

Kyle Winter - 500m - 1:04.50 breaks Terry Haley's record of 1:05.76 set in 1995.

Event winners:
Junior Tyler O'Brien - 200m - 22.10
Freshman Chanel Franklin - 200m - 25.67
Freshman Kyle Winter -500m - 1:04.50
Sophomore Jack Hackett - Mile - 4:12.54
Senior Erynn James - High Jump - 5-8
Senior Rachel Thiel - Shot Put - 46-4
5th-year senior Carrie Schmid - Pole Vault - 11-1.75

Here is a brief highlight video...

The following pictures were taken by senior Katlin Millin.

Freshman Spencer Agnew ran the 3000m in at time of 8:31.42 that broke Brent Des Roches freshman record of 8:32.68 set in 2003. His seventh place finish was solid in a very deep early season field.

Freshman Chanel Franklin sparkled in her MU debut winning the 200m in 25.67 which was good for #5 on the all-time list. Chanel pulled even with the leader on the turn and pulled away down the homestretch to clinch her first collegiate victory. Her 8.02 in the 60m made her #7 in MU history.

5th-year senior Shawn McLarney qualified for the BIG EAST indoor meet in the Long Jump.


Freshman Reilly Hall ran the 500m and anchored the 4x400m relay.

Senior Michael O'Brien qualified for the BIG EAST meet in the 500m with a time of 1:05.45 and also lead off the 4x400m relay.

Junior Marisa Handley just missed her PR in the high jump.

Junior Jon Kusowski opened the season in the weight throw after battling sickness during the week.

Sophomore Jenny Zahn opened the season running the 500m and the 4x400m relay.

Freshman eligible Jeff Pugh, a sophomore academically and a survivor of fall tryouts, made his MU debut in the 400m.

5th-year senior Jeff Kluge opened the season with a BIG EAST qualifying mark in the weight throw

Sophomore Jack Hackett won the mile in exciting, come from behind fashion in his MU debut.

Senior Erynn James won the high jump with a jump of 5-8. Erynn just brushed the bar on her 3rd attempt at what would have been school record and NCAA Provisional qualifying height of 5-10 (1.78m). Erynn cleared the bar and left it wobbling on the standards, got off the mat and came over to celebrate with us coaches when it finally fell off... approximately seven seconds after she was over. The video on the highlight reel is of that jump.

MU sophomore and T&F freshman eligible Christine Hansen, a native of Haines, Alaska and another survivor of the fall walk-on tryouts, made her MU debut in the 500m.

Freshman Cheldon Brown took second in the high jump in his MU debut.

Freshman Benjamin Schmitz competed in the 1000m and the 4x400m relay in his MU debut.

Media Spotlight

With the indoor track and field season starting tomorrow, there have been a couple recent articles about current team members in the media...

Click here to read a story from the Chilkat Vally News in Haines, Alaska about sophomore Christine Hansen who made the team after trying out this fall.

Click here to read a column, maybe a bit over the top, in today's MU Tribune about junior Tyler O'Brien.

Golden Eagle Spotlight

With the Cross Country season complete we turn our attention to the upcoming Track & Field season. The team opens the season on Friday December 4th at Notre Dame. In this weeks edition of the Golden Eagle spotlight Seniors Erynn James and Randey Fisher talk to MUTV about the upcoming season.

Great Lakes Regional

Here are a few links related to the Great Lakes Regional...

GoMarquette.com preview: Click here
Coach Nelson's podcast: Click here

GoMarquette.com recap: Click here

MU Tribune recap: Click here

Official meet site: Click here

Men's results: Click here

Women's results: Click here

Two more....

Catching Up

Here are a couple videos that I overlooked leading up to the BIG EAST cross country meet. Better late than never....

BIG EAST Recap

Re-cap of Big East Conference Championships:

I would like to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone who was able to make it to the meet on Saturday. The conditions were not ideal, but that did not matter to the true Marquette fans. Also, thank you, thank you, thank you to all who volunteered during the meet. We could not have done it without you. Several coaches commented to me, that despite the nasty conditions, this was one of the best Big East Championships they had ever seen. The crowd support was absolutely fantastic and I think our athletes performed at a slightly higher level because of all the cheers! Thanks again!!

Men-
For the men, this was our best performance of the year. Each guy either had his best race of the season, or very close to his best race. Some of our guys are built a little better for those types of conditions, but all of them gave very gutsy efforts. We were pretty disappointed with our race at Pre-Nats and a lot of that disappointment had to do with the fact we got out way to slow. At conference, we were determined to put ourselves into it from the get-go and if we happend to fall back slightly, then so be it. However, our guys didn't fall back. Many of them picked people off as the race went on. Overall, it was a great effort and I was very proud of these young guys. Our top runner, Brice Cleland, is the only junior in the group. Everyone else is a freshman or sophomore. Here is the individual breakdown:

37. Brice Cleland- Junior. Best race of the season. Seems to be coming around at the right time. Small, but very strong guy. He was made for these muddy/sloppy conditions. Great race!!
43. Blake Johnson- Sophomore. Solid race for him, but not his best of the season. Had a rough 4th mile. Still improved a lot from last season's conference performance.
50. Dominick Rosario- Sophomore. Best race I have ever seen him run. Been having great workouts recently. Very proud of his progress. Placed in the 90's last year at this meet!
51. Peter Bolgert- Sophomore. Great race for this guy. Always gives it everything, always exciting to watch him race. Nobody has a kick like Peter Bolgert.
56. Connor Callahan- Freshman. He was disappointed with his race, but I thought he ran well. The muddy conditions didn't help him much, he is a finesse-type runner and the poor footing can be a problem for him. Overall, very solid effort for a freshman.
59. Keith Schueller- Sophomore. Very solid effort for this guy. He placed 95th in this race last year. Great improvement.
60. Anthony (AJ) Gedwill- Freshman. Best race I have ever seen him run. If you would have told me in August that he would be running this well, I would not have believed you. Awesome season for this young man.
93. Patrick Keeley- Sophomore. Only one that really struggled in this race. He's normally right around Keith. I think the long track season and the junior nationals experience in Eugene caused him to peak back in September. He'll be back and he'll be a force for us next season. Great kid!
95. Patrick Maag- Freshman. The muddy conditions definitely don't suit you when you're 6'5. Patrick has had a freshman season filled with ups and downs but I think he learned a lot and he's well on his way to having a great career at Marquette.

Women-
The women's group, as a whole, had a solid race on Saturday. We had some individuals who ran their best race of the season and we had some folks who did OK, but not great. We did a great job of working together and helping each other. Our team goal was to beat Louisville. We needed to do two things to accomplish that goal. Our top 3 had to race better with their top 3, and we had to put 7 runners ahead of their 4th. We easily accomplished the 2nd goal, but we weren't even close on the first goal. This women's team has been on somewhat of a roller-coaster throughout this season. I never really know who is going to be in our top 5. It all depends on who is having a good day and who is not. I feel like every girl has made improvements, but it hasn't always showed in the races(which has me a little frustrated). I won't over-analyze the situation because I usually end up more confused, but I'll definitely sit down after the season with all the women and figure out what we can do next year to be on top of our game when it matters the most. Here is the individual breakdown:

39. Jayne Grebinski- Senior. Solid race for this senior leader. Not quite where she wanted to finish in her last Big East competition, but a great race none-the-less.
51. Anna Weber- Senior. She ran about the same effort that she has been running all season. Thought she'd be a little higher up in the field, but I was pleased with her gutsy performance.
52. Laurie Dalrymple- Junior. By far the best race she has run all season. She's always a wild-card. I never really know what she'll do when the gun goes off. Today she stepped up and helped our team. About 4 weeks ago, she was in the hospital. When she is healthy, she is a fierce competitor.
53. Molly Arenberg- Junior. Very solid effort for our soccer player transplant. Laurie is always the wild-card, Molly is always reliable. Molly gives it 100% every time out and I couldn't be happier with her progress.
56. Maureen Keane- Junior. Best race of the season for this young lady. With all the ups and downs she's had throughout her career at MU, I'm so happy she had a good one in front of all her friends and family.
59. Olivia Johnson- Junior. If there is anyone who would be affected most by the sloppy/muddy conditions, it would be Olivia. She just doesn't run well in those types of conditions. Tough race for her.
62. Amanda Beggs- Senior. She has been running really well in practice recently, so I'm surprised by this race effort. Thought she'd be with Molly/Maureen. Still trying to get back to her old form. She'll race better at regionals.
85. Sarah Verdoliva- Senior. Not necessarily the way we hoped to end the season. She's better than this, but she is still intimidated by the 6k distance. However, all of this base-work will help her for track. Look out 800m school records!

Click here for women's results

Click here for men's results

Click here for the GoMarquette.com recap

Click here for the official Marquette Images photo gallery.

Click here for the BIG EAST Conference Cross Country page .

BIG EAST Cross Countery is 2 days away!

Check out the special edition of the Golden Eagle spotlight as the Marquette Cross Country teams prepare for the BIG EAST Championships this Saturday in Kenosha!



Marquette hosts the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships this Saturday at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course on the UW-Parkside campus. The the men's race will start at 11:00am and the women begin at 11:50.

Click here for the GoMarquette.com info page.
Click here for the Official BIG EAST Championship Central page.

Don't forget about the MUTC Halloween Party on Saturday night! Click here for the party flyer. If you have not already done so, click here to register for the party.

BIG EAST XC is almost here!

Marquette hosts the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships this Saturday at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course on the UW-Parkside campus. The cannon will start the men's race at 11:00am and the women begin at 11:50.

Click here for the GoMarquette.com preview.

Click here for the Official BIG EAST Championship Central page.

Click here for course maps.

Click here for a pre-meet Q&A with senior women's team captain Amanda Beggs.

Don't forget about the MUTC Halloween Party on Saturday night! Click here for the party flyer. If you have not already done so, click here to register for the party.

Here is the Golden Eagle Spotlight meet preview.



This is shaping up to be a great event! See you all in Kenosha!

2010 Track & Field Schedule Released

The 2010 Marquette Track & Field schedule was announced today. The team will host two home meets this year at the Bus Shimek Memorial Track & Field Facility. The home season will start off with the UWM dual meet on Friday April 2nd (Good Friday), and followed by the Marquette Twilight on Saturday April 24th. Other local meets include the Badger Track Classic on Saturday Jauary 16th, and an indoor dual meet with UWM on Saturday January 23rd at the UWM Klotsche Center, and the Wisconsin Twilight on Saturday May 8th. The BIG EAST Indoor Championships will take place at the Armory in New York City on Feb 20-21. The University of Cincinnati will host the Outdoor Championships on April 30-May 2.

Click here to read the GoMarquette.com release.
Click here to view a PDF version of the schedule.

Pre-Nats Recap Links

Click here for the GoMarquette.com recap.

Click here for the Marquette Tribume recap.

Click here for the men's results.

Click here for the women's results.

Click here for the offical Pre-Nats website.

Re-cap of NCAA Pre-Nationals

Men-
Unfortunately, this was not one of our better days from a team perspective. We got out a little too slow and stayed buried for most of the race. I take a lot of the blame for this because I told them to go out conservatively on the sloppy, slow course. I would say that the course was roughly 40-50 seconds slower than it has been in the past due to all the rain and mud. Some of the guys did run well, but several of them had "off" days. Blake Johnson was our top runner and he passed about 70 guys during the race, but he should have been further up in the race to begin with. Some positives: in the last two years, we have never had our 5th man place higher than 229th. Peter Bolgert was our 5th man yesterday placing 198th. I haven't looked too much into the history of Marquette competing at Pre-Nationals, but I'm not sure we've ever finished in the top 25. I think that yesterday was an "off" day and we were still able to place 30th. All of these guys are very young and they will get a few more cracks at this meet. Overall, I think this was a good learning experience for them and I think we'll run better at conference after having competed in this meet. Here's how things unfolded for each runner:

155. Blake Johnson (25:51)- solid race, but he just got out too slow. Needs to do a better job of putting himself in the race. Placed 203rd in this race last year, so at least he made a nice improvement.
170. Brice Cleland (25:59)- not a bad race for him, but not a great race either. Still nowhere near the fitness level that he was at last year. Not sure what the deal is....
187. Nick Szczech (26:09)- I don't really want to get into it. Not good....
194. Connor Callahan (26:12)- Solid race for this freshman, although he had way too much left at the finish. Like Blake, he needs to do a better job of putting himself in the race.
198. Peter Bolgert (26:21)- Solid race for Peter. Peter always goes 100%. If he's in the race, you know he'll give it everything he's got.
204. Dominick Rosario (26:28)- Great race for this sophomore. He's made some tremendous improvements since last season. Couldn't be happier with his progress.
219. Patrick Keeley (26:57)- Tough day for this sophomore. Got out slow and stayed pretty slow.

Open race-
52. Keith Schueller (26:45)- Much better effort for this sophomore. Earned his spot on the conference squad.
84. Anthony Gedwill (27:41)- Very happy with this freshman. He also earned his spot on the conference squad. He was not one of the superstars that we brought in, but he's healthy and producing results while the other guys are sitting at home. He came in ready to go!
92. Patrick Maag (27:55)- This freshman has really been through a lot recently and he ended his season on a positive note today. He was very sick for about two weeks earlier this season. He is much better on the track and all the fitness he gained this XC season will come back to help him.

Women-
I felt like the women competed much better than they did at Wisconsin a few weeks ago. Again, the course was very sloppy and slow and our women came through the 5k at times that weren't too far off of what they ran at Wisconsin for just 5k. Jayne had a nice race finishing in 83rd place. I would have liked Anna and Olivia to be a little closer to Jayne, but overall they had decent performances. I was slightly confused with the outcome of this years race. Last year, our top two women dropped out of the race and we finished 26th. This year, we had a fairly solid performance all-around and we place 29th. It just goes to show you that you can never predict the outcome of any race. I do believe that several of these women are on an upswing and I think all of them will be ready for their best race of the year at the conference meet on Oct. 31st. Here's how things played out:

83. Jayne Grebinski (21:55)- Solid performance for Jayne. She moved up through the race well.
148. Anna Weber (22:37)- Too much time/places between our #1 and #2 runners. Anna is better than this.
154. Olivia Johnson (22:41)- Considering she walked the last 400m of this race last year, I'll take her performance. She's better than this, but I'll take what I can get.
165. Kristin Pelzel (22:48)- Nice race for this young lady. She usually bombs at the bigger meets, so hopefully this is a turning point. She was in dead-last at 400m of this particular race, worked her way up nicely.
170. Molly Arenberg (22:52)- She's a soccer player, how can I not be happy with the way she's running this season. She just runs and has fun! Very refreshing.
185. Laurie Dalrymple (23:06)- She's lucky to even be running right now. Spent two days in the hospital about two weeks ago. Missed the Wisconsin meet. She might be in our top 5 at conference, she might not race. Your guess is as good as mine.
198. Sarah Verdoliva (23:17)- Solid race for her, but still not quite where I think she should be running. Might be starting to run out of gas. First full season of XC. Hopefully all of this XC stuff will help her in track. We'll see....

Open Race-
17. Amanda Beggs (22:54)- Great race for this senior. Still not running where she was last year, but she has made steady progress throughout the season. I think she'll make a run at our top 5 at conference.
60. Christina Sliepka (23:46)- Solid effort for this freshmen. Good way for her to end her season.
63. Carly Condon (23:52)- Great effort for this young lady. She is a red-shirt freshmen and she has absolutely no idea whats going on around her. She's another one who just shows up and races. She has possibly the most potential for improvement.
72. Carly Windt (24:08)- Not a good race for her. She ran awesome at UW-Parkside last weekend, so this was frustrating. Oh well, she made some tremendous improvements this year and I'm pleased with here progress.

Pre-Nats Previews

The NCAA Pre-National Invitational takes place Saturday at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. The men run in the blue race starting at 11:00am EDT. The women run in the blue race starting at 12:20pm EDT.

Click here to read the MU Tribune preview.

Click here to read the GoMarquette.com preview.

Click here for meet information.

Golden Eagle Spotlight

Anna Weber on this weeks Golden Eagle Spotlight...

Alumni News

Claudia Becque-Johnston was inducted into the Palatine High School Hall of Fame a few weeks ago. Claudia was a member of the cross country and track & field teams from 1994-98. Last April, Claudia qualified for the Olympic trials marathon and finished 98th in the Boston Marathon. Click here, to read the entire article.

Click here to read an article from February 2008 in the Napa Valley Register about Claudia's attempt to make the Olympic-qualifying trials.

Congrats Claudia!

Marquette Tribune Links

There were a couple of articles in the Thursday October 8th edition of the Marquette Tribune that had coaches quotes and other connections to MU XC / T&F.

Click here to read Columnist Erik Schmidt's column about runners; track and field and cross country runners in particular.

Click here to read 400 Hurdler and Marquette Tribune staff writer Jenny Zahn's article about MU students prepping for the Chicago Marathon.

Re-Cap of Wisconsin Inter-Regional Meet.

Thomas Zimmer Cross-Country Course. Madison, WI

Men-

Despite our men bringing up the rear in the team results, I was actually pretty happy with the way we competed. I would say that this was our best meet of the season so far. This was an extremely competitive meet with 8 of the 12 Division 1 teams being ranked in the top 30 in the nation. I knew we were a little over our heads going into this meet, but if you want to be one of the best, you have to compete against the best. The course was pretty soft and a little bit muddy in some sections so the fact that we put 6 guys under 26:05 was pretty solid. I definitely think this meet was a step in the right direction for us and we're looking forward to Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana.

46. Nick Szczech 25:08 Junior

65. Blake Johnson 25:31 Soph.

70. Brice Cleland 25:50 Junior

72. Peter Bolgert 25:56 Soph.

73. Connor Callahan 26:00 Fresh.

75. Dominick Rosario 26:05 Soph.

83. Patrick Keeley 26:38 Soph.

The course is absolutely gorgeous. The university ridge golf course is right across the street from the XC course. The grounds-keepers who take care of the golf course also take care of the XC course. The footing is completely smooth and there are special paths for spectators to use as they walk/run from point to point. Wisconsin will be bidding to host the NCAA national championships in the next few years. The only two drawbacks in their bid will be the parking situation(extremely limited) and the perceived harsh weather. There is only enough parking for about 40-50 vehicles at the course. Every spectator had to park at Verona High School and pay $5 to be shuttled to the course. There will be those who object to having the championship in late November in Wisconsin. They are scared to have another championship like the one at Iowa State in 2000 or Northern Iowa in 2003. Those people are wimps, but they do have a voice. I think the course could probably hold a national championship, but Pre-Nationals would be tight. Should be interesting to follow the developments of the facility.

Women-

This meet was definitely the tale of two teams. At the Parkside meet two weeks ago, almost every single girl ran a solid race. At the Wisconsin meet on Saturday, almost every single girl ran a poor race. We really looked flat and tired, even after only one mile. A few of the girls were sick and one of our top girls, Laurie Dalrymple, did not compete, so hopefully that was the reason for our demise. We have been having some solid practices, so I'm not too worried. We have a veteran group and I know they will come back to have a stronger race at Pre-Nationals. Hopefully we got our bad race out of the way. Here is how things turned out for us:

35. Jayne Grebinski 17:53 senior

54. Anna Weber 18:15 senior

65. Olivia Johnson 18:27 junior

67. Molly Arenberg 18:35 junior

72. Kristin Pelzel 18:54 junior

77. Amanda Beggs 19:14 senior

78. Maureen Keane 19:14 senior

Wisconsin / Adidas Invitational

Here are a few links related to the Adidas meet in Madison on Saturday. Coach Nelson's recap will follow...

Meet preview podacst here.

GoMarquette.com preview here.

Marquette Tribune preview here.

GoMarquette.com recap here.

Men's results here.

Women's results here.

Olivia Johnson on the Golden Eagle Spotlight

Junior Olivia Johnson was a guest this week on MUTV's Golden Eagle spotlight.

Re-cap of Midwest Collegiate Open at UW-Parkside

Men- Overall, I was very happy with our men. We had several great performances and I think we are moving in the right direction. Sophomore Blake Johnson was our #1 runner this past weekend with freshman Connor Callahan coming in only 2 seconds behind Blake. Connor ran an outstanding race for a freshman. The team did have a pretty big snag when our normal #1 runner, Nick Szczech, dropped out of the race with some heat issues. Nick is somewhat prone to heat exhaustion and he started getting dizzy and light-headed around the 4.5 mile mark. Losing your number one obviously hurts the team score, but our depth made up for the loss. Our other lone junior, Brice Cleland, is also experiencing some health issues that have left his energy stores a little depleted. We just found out that Brice's iron levels were deficient. So right now, my main priority is to get our normal #1 and #2 guys back to a healthy state so that this team can really roll. These guys are young, but they are stepping up in a big way! Here's how things unfolded for the guys this weekend:

6. Blake Johnson 25:32 sophomore
8. Connor Callahan 25:34 freshman
14. Peter Bolgert 25:59 sophomore
21. Brice Cleland 26:14 junior
25. Keith Schueller 26:20 sophomore (top 5 within 48 seconds)
28. Jerry Kerska 26:30 freshman
29. Patrick Keeley 26:32 sophomore (top 7 within 60 seconds)
33. Dominick Rosario 26:38 sophomore

Women- The women also had a great team performance this past weekend. We had some great front running, but we also had strong team depth. Its hard to be a good team without both! We went up against two other Big East schools in West Virginia and Louisville. West Virginia is currently ranked 4th in the country, however they held out three of their top women due to flu-like symptoms. Louisville and WVU tied for the win with 44 points and we earned 3rd place with 47 points. The Marquette women continue to impress me and the scary thing is that I know we can still run a lot better. With that being said, we're taking a slightly different approach this season in that we're taking it "one day at a time." Our slogan is, "just today." Too many times in the past we have looked too far ahead to future races. We're taking it one workout and one race at a time. Also, another big change is that several of the girls are taking at least one and sometimes two days off per week. We're trying to save our legs more for the harder workouts and races, hopefully leaving them healthy and fresh on race day. Let's hope this new strategy works out in the long-term! Here is how our girls did this weekend:

5. Olivia Johnson 18:02 junior
8. Jayne Grebinski 18:08 senior
10. Anna Weber 18:23 senior
11. Kristin Pelzel 18:24 junior
13. Molly Arenberg 18:26 junior (top 5 within 24 seconds)
23. Laurie Dalrymple 18:49 junior
24. Sarah Verdoliva 18:54 senior (top 7 within 52 seconds)

Midwest Collegiate Open at UW-Parkside

Below are links and video related to Saturday's Midwest Colligaite Open held at UW-Parkside.

Click here for the meet preview.

Click here for Coach Nelson's meet preview podcast.

Click here for the meet recap.

Click here for meet results.

Coach Nelson's meet recap will follow shortly...

Women at Marquette: Historical Note of the Week

In 1909, Marquette University became the first Catholic university in the world to offer coeducation as part of its regular undergraduate program. Since that time, the role of women at Marquette has changed and expanded dramatically, with women now making up more than 50 percent of the student body.

During the 2009-10 school year, Marquette is celebrating the 100th anniversary of this landmark event in the university’s history. A committee of faculty, staff, students and alumni are planning a year’s worth of activities, including an alumnae memory project, guest speakers and lectures, commemorative publications, and faculty, staff, student and alumni events.

Check out the Historical Note of the Week highlighting the 1981 NAIA Women's Championship Cross Country team here.

Re-cap of the DePaul Opener-

http://www.gomarquette.com/sports/c-xc/marq-c-xc-body.html

Women-
Overall, I was very happy with the women's performance at the DePaul meet. It was a 4-team meet between Marquette, DePaul, Northwestern, and Loyola. It was a fantastic way for us to open our season. Our top five ladies went- 1,2,3,5,7 with a total team score of only 18 points. Times weren't tremendously fast because of the thick grass and several 180 turns. Jayne Grebinski looked very comfortable in her victory. She took command of the race at about the mile mark and never looked back. I was also very impressed with Kristin Pelzel's performance. Despite this being her junior year in college, Kristin has never had a full summer of training due to constant injury. She was in 2nd place for most of the race until Olivia Johnson passed her with 400m to go. Olivia also ran a strong race to finsh 2nd place in the race and for our team. Anna Weber ran a solid race to place 5th and newcomer Molly Arenberg rounded out the scoring for MU placing 7th overall. Besides the alumni race, this was Molly's first competitive XC race EVER!! I was also very impressed with our 6th runner, Sarah Verdoliva. Sarah was 9th in the race. This is only Sarah's 5th XC race ever and she still has much room to improve. We did hold out two ladies who would have definitely been in our top 8, Laurie Dalrymple- bruised foot and Courtney Kelly- Achilles tendinitis. Here's how everyone did:

1) Jayne Grebinski 14:28
2) Olivia Johnson 14:33
3) Kristin Pelzel 14:37
5) Anna Weber 14:49
7) Molly Arenberg 14:52
9) Sarah Verdoliva 15:00
17) Amanda Beggs 15:18
18) Maureen Keane 15:21
19) Carly Windt 15:23
25)Christina Sliepka 15:43
26) Kate Horan 15:45
30) Carly Condon 16:02
32) Bekki Misanin 16:11
33) Jessa Hackman 16:14
41) Melissa Budelier 16:39

Men-
The men weren't quite as dominating as the women; however they easily won the meet and I was very pleased with their performances. We had some nice front running and we had a great pack. We'll need to work on getting our 3 and 4 runners closer to our #2. Nick Szczech led the golden eagles placing 2nd in the 4-mile race. Nick ran even 5:00min pace to finish at 20:00. After all of his struggles last year, I am so happy to see this guy running well. Sophomore Blake Johnson placed 4th overall with a very strong race. Blake has always been very reliable. Brice Cleland should have placed a little higher, but he is still recovering from a knee injury he sustained this summer. He seems to be getting stronger each week and I'm sure he'll be racing alongside of Blake by our next meet at Parkside. Brice ended up being our #4 runner at DePaul, placing a few seconds behind freshmen Connor Callahan from St. Louis. Sophomore Peter Bolgert wrapped up our team scoring finishing a very respectful 11th. Peter is another guy who suffered from injuries almost all of last year. It's great to see him back training and racing strong! Here's how the guys did:

2) Nick Szczech 20:00
4) Blake Johnson 20:23
9) Connor Callahan 20:39
10) Brice Cleland 20:42
11) Peter Bolgert 20:52
12) Dominick Rosario 20:56
13) Patrick Keeley 20:57
14) Jack Senefeld 21:01
15) Patrick Maag 21:09
16) Jack Hackett 21:10
18) Keith Schueller 21:13
22) Anthony Gedwill 21:22
25) Jon Newman 21:40
27) Taylor Peliska 21:49
28) Jerry Kerska 21:51

Our next meet is at UW-Parkside on Saturday September 19th.

Over Hill and Over Dale...

Each month the Marquette University Archives releases a featured assortment of digital images. This month they are featuring some historical images from MU Cross Country. Most of the images are part of a much larger collection about the MU Athletic Hall of Fame collection that archives is currently working on, but will not be ready until early next year.

Click HERE to view the collection.

The page is also currently posted on the Libraries' homepage, where it will be highlighted for about two weeks. You can access the homepage here.

UPDATED Alumni Run Results

Below are the updated results from the Alumni Run on Saturday August 29th. We made a couple corrections and, with the help of David Uhrich, added some interesting info. Read on...

WOMEN'S RESULTS

1. Olivia Johnson- Jr. 11:33.7
2. Jayne Grebinski- Sr. 11:39.8
3. Cassie Peller- Class of 08 11:41.3
4. Anna Weber- Sr. 11:45.9
5. Molly Arenberg- Jr. 11:46.3
6. Michaela Courtney- Class of 07 11:51.9
7. Laurie Dalrymple- Jr. 11:52.1
8. Terri Emond- Class of 06 12:02.1
9. Sarah Verdoliva- Sr. 12:04.8
10. Kristin Pelzel- Jr. 12:04.8
11. Jessie Henderson- Class of 03 12:10.5
12. Amanda Beggs- Sr. 12:14.1
13. Maureen Keane- Jr. 12:20.4
14. Courtney Kelly- So. 12:20.6
15. Carly Windt- Fr. 12:27.9
16. Leslie Lawton- Class of 05 12:29.2
17. Christina Sliepka- Fr. 12:38.4
18. Kate Horan- So. 12:50.8
19. Melissa Budelier- Fr. 12:57.9
20. Bekki Misanin- So. 13:00.0
21. Jessa Hackman- Fr. 13:00.7
22. Carly Condon- Fr. 13:11.3
23. Kara Hughes- Class of 86 13:32.9
24. Reilly Hall- Fr. 14:03.3
25. Melissa Burghardt- Jr. 14:03.7
26. Laura Linnean- Sr. 14:05.5
27. Toni Uhrich 15:22.4
28. Jackie Herrington- Class of 03 15:35.1
29. Amanda Sucharda- Class of 03 15:35.1
30. Diane Held-Munzenmeier- Class of 84 15:38.7
31. Sharon Fritz- Class of 09 16:57.1
32. Alyssa Davis- Jr. 16:57.4
33. Marissa Handley- Jr. 16:59.8
34. Lauren Benjamin- So. 17:01.3

Blue & Gold Team- (1)(2)(4)(5)(7) = 19 points
Alumni Team- (3)(6)(8)(11)(16) = 44 points

Most Improved Alums
Diane Held-Munzenmeier
2008 2009
18:15 15:38 = -2:37!

Amanda Sucharda
2008 2009
15:54 15:35 = -:24

Furthest Distance Traveled:
Kaitlyn Chambers- Cleveland, OH 435 miles
Terri Emond- Wyoming, MN 352 miles

First Master’s Runner:

Kara Hughes Class of 86 13:32

First Field Event Athlete:

Sharon Fritz (Jumps) Class of 09

MEN'S RESULTS
1. Tommy Schmitz- Class of 07 9:44.2
2. Nick Szczech- Jr. 9:45.4
3. Blake Johnson- So. 9:51.8
4. Connor Callahan- Fr. 9:54.4
5. Matt Dunlavy- Class of 01 9:55.2
6. Brice Cleland- Jr. 9:58.6
7. Peter Bolgert- So. 9:58.9
8. Jack Hackett- So. 10:01.9
9. Dave Henderson- Class of 06 10:03.3
10. Patrick Maag- Fr. 10:05.4
11. Jack Senefeld- Fr. 10:05.7
12. Patrick Keeley- So. 10:09.1
13. Keith Schueller- So. 10:09.3
14. AJ Gedwill- Fr. 10:09.6
15. Dominick Rosario- So. 10:09.8
16. Taylor Peliska- Fr. 10:17.1
17. Jon Newman- Fr. 10:32.8
18. Jerry Kerska- Fr. 10:52.6
19. Mike McCarthy- So. 11:05.2
20. Ben Schmitz- Fr. 11:08.5
21. Billy Schlottke- Fr. 11:10.7
22. Jeremy Williams- Class of 07 11:15.9
23. Chago Navarro- Class of 95 11:18.1
24. Kyle Saginus- Class of 09 11:23.0
25. Brent DesRoches- Class of 07 11:36.1

26. Joe Herington- Class of 02 11:44.8
27. Jay Crichton- Class of 05 11:45.4
28. Kurt Keuter- Class of 08 11:46.5
29. Pete Lawrence- Class of 94 11:54.2
30. Jed Burey- Class of 08 12:00.1
31. Sal Graziano- Class of 04 12:19.5
32. Nick VanDerra- Class of 09 12:45.2
33. John Rydeski- Class of 81 12:47.4
34. Dave Uhrich- Class of 85 12:54.9
35. Jeff Grant- Class of 81 13:03.7
36. Nick Newton- Class of 04 13:09.7
37. John Duffy Class of 82 13:24.7
38. John Mroz- Class of 95 13:30.8
39. Tom Cassady- Class of 09 13:40.0
40. Tyler O’Brien- Jr. 13:44.6
41. Scott Roberts- Class of 82 14:18.0
42. Tom Sage- Class of 08 14:41.1
43. Antonio Jones- Sr. 14:41.4
44. Cameron Harvey- Class of 02 15:00.3
45. Andy Ballard- Class of 06 16:24.4
46. Jonathon Rosploch Class of 05 16:24.4
47. Jon Kusowski- Jr. 17:13.6

Blue Team- (2)(4)(7)(10)(12) = 35 points
Gold Team- (3)(6) (8)(11)(13) = 41 points
Alumni Team- (1)(5)(9)(22)(23) = 60 points

Most Improved Alums
Dave Uhrich
2008 2009
14:30 12:54 = -1:06!

Nick Newton
2008 2009
13:45 13:09 = -:36

Matt Dunlavy
2008 2009
10:25 9:55 = -:30

Dave Henderson
2008 2009
10:31 10:03 = -:28

Furthest Distance Traveled:
Jay Crichton- Burlington, Ontario, Canada 580 miles
Matt Dunlavy- Kansas City, KS 570 miles
Cameron Harvey- Nashville, TN 560 miles
Brent Des Roches- Beavercreek, OH 400 miles

First Master’s Runner:
John Rydeski- Class of 81 12:47.4

First Field Event Athlete:
Nick VanDerra- Class of 09 12:45.2

MU T&F / XC on Golden Eagle Spotlight

Marquette Athletics is greatly enhancing how it uses the Internet and over the summer has really expanded its video coverarge of all sports particularly with interviews. Here are a few like that are cross country and track and field related. Much of it can be viewed at GoMarquette.com, but all can be found by clicking HERE to link to the Marquette Athletics YouTube site.


Jayne Grebinski interview on Monday August 31, 2009


Jim Allen Hall of Fame Introduction - Inducted on August 22, 2009


Coach Mike Nelson Interview on August 6, 2009


Junior Nick Szczech Interview on July 16, 2009


Senior Track & Field Captain Rachel Thiel Interview on July 8, 2009

ALUMNI RUN!

The 2009 Alumni Run was held at Bay View Park in Milwaukee on Saturday August 29th. The turnout was excellent with about 130 people in attendance. It was a great event and a great way to kickoff the 2009 Cross Country season! Thanks to al those who attended and helped out! The Two Mile race results and pictures are below.


WOMEN'S RESULTS

1. Olivia Johnson- Jr. 11:33.7
2. Jayne Grebinski- Sr. 11:39.8
3. Cassie Peller- Class of 08 11:41.3
4. Anna Weber- Sr. 11:45.9
5. Molly Arenberg- Jr. 11:46.3
6. Michaela Courtney- Class of 07 11:51.9
7. Laurie Dalrymple- Jr. 11:52.1
8. Terri Emond- Class of 06 12:02.1
9. Sarah Verdoliva- Sr. 12:04.8
10. Kristin Pelzel- Jr. 12:04.8
11. Jessie Henderson- Class of 03 12:10.5
12. Amanda Beggs- Sr. 12:14.1
13. Maureen Keane- Jr. 12:20.4
14. Courtney Kelly- So. 12:20.6
15. Carly Windt- Fr. 12:27.9
16. Leslie Lawton- Class of 05 12:29.2
17. Christina Sliepka- Fr. 12:38.4
18. Kate Horan- So. 12:50.8
19. Melissa Budelier- Fr. 12:57.9
20. Bekki Misanin- So. 13:00.0
21. Jessa Hackman- Fr. 13:00.7
22. Carly Condon- Fr. 13:11.3
23. Kara Hughes- Class of 86 13:32.9
24. Reilly Hall- Fr. 14:03.3
25. Melissa Burghardt- Jr. 14:03.7
26. Laura Linnean- Sr. 14:05.5
27. Toni Uhrich 15:22.4
28. Jackie Herrington- Class of 03 15:35.1
29. Amanda Sucharda- Class of 03 15:35.1
30. Diane Held-Munzenmeier Class of 84 15:38.7
31. Sharon Fritz- Class of 09 16:57.1
32. Alyssa Davis- Jr. 16:57.4
33. Marissa Handley- Jr. 16:59.8
34. Lauren Benjamin- So. 17:01.3

Blue & Gold Team- (1)(2)(4)(5)(7) = 19 points
Alumni Team- (3)(6)(8)(11)(16) = 44 points


MEN'S RESULTS

1. Tommy Schmitz- Class of 07 9:44.2
2. Nick Szczech- Jr. 9:45.4
3. Blake Johnson- So. 9:51.8
4. Connor Callahan- Fr. 9:54.4
5. Matt Dunlavy- Class of 01 9:55.2
6. Brice Cleland- Jr. 9:58.6
7. Peter Bolgert- So. 9:58.9
8. Jack Hackett- So. 10:01.9
9. Dave Henderson- Class of 06 10:03.3
10. Patrick Maag- Fr. 10:05.4
11. Jack Senefeld- Fr. 10:05.7
12. Patrick Keeley- So. 10:09.1
13. Keith Schueller- So. 10:09.3
14. AJ Gedwill- Fr. 10:09.6
15. Dominick Rosario- So. 10:09.8
16. Taylor Peliska- Fr. 10:17.1
17. Jon Newman- Fr. 10:32.8
18. Jerry Kerska- Fr. 10:52.6
19. Mike McCarthy- So. 11:05.2
20. Ben Schmitz- Fr. 11:08.5
21. Billy Schlottke- Fr. 11:10.7
22. Jeremy Williams- Class of 07 11:15.9
23. Chago Navarro- Class of 95 11:18.1
24. Kyle Saginus- Class of 09 11:23.0
25. Brent DesRoches- Class of 07 11:36.1
26. Joe Herrington- Class of 02 11:44.8
27. Jay Crichton- Class of 05 11:45.4
28. Kurt Keuter- Class of 08 11:46.5
29. Pete Lawrence- Class of 94 11:54.2
30. Jed Burey- Class of 08 12:00.1
31. Sal Graziano- Class of 04 12:19.5
32. Nick VanDerra- Class of 09 12:45.2
33. John Rydeski- Class of 81 12:47.4
34. Dave Uhrich- Class of 85 12:54.9
35. Jeff Grant- Class of 81 13:03.7
36. Nick Newton- Class of 04 13:09.7
37. Duffy?? Class of 82 13:24.7
38. John Mroz- Class of ?? 13:30.8
39. Tom Cassady- Class of 09 13:40.0
40. Tyler O’Brien- Jr. 13:44.6
41. Scott Roberts- Class of 82 14:18.0
42. Tom Sage- Class of 08 14:41.1
43. Antonio Jones- Sr. 14:41.4
44. Cameron Harvey- Class of 02 15:00.3
45. Andy Ballard- Class of 06 16:24.4
46. Jonathon Rosploch Class of 05 16:24.4
47. Jon Kusowski- Jr. 17:13.6

Blue Team- (2)(4)(7)(10)(12) = 35 points
Gold Team- (3)(6) (8)(11)(13) = 41 points
Alumni Team- (1)(5)(9)(22)(23) = 60 points