Oct. 2, 2001

DALLAS -- Missouri seniors Ann Marie Brooks and Mike Pitts have been named the Big 12 Cross Country Runners of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.

In one of the toughest fields of competition, Brooks finished ninth at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn., last weekend. The St. Joseph, Mo., senior clocked a 21:12.9 in the 6K course. MU finished 13th out of 26 teams with 300 total runners. Ten of the 26 teams in the field were nationally ranked.

On the men's side, Pitts finished 21st overall at the Roy Griak Invitational, the highest place of any Big 12 runner at the meet. The Springfield, Mo., senior ran the 8K course 24:42.4 as the Tigers finished 29th out of 36 teams. Like the women's race, the men's race consisted of 11 ranked teams and 311 total runners.

Missouri is receiving votes and is No. 26 in the women's poll. The women are ranked second in the region behind Minnesota this week.