Nov. 11, 2005
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Columbia, Mo. - The Missouri cross country team will travel to Iowa City, Iowa for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship Saturday, Nov. 12, beginning with the men's 10K race at 11 a.m. (CST) and followed by the women's 6K challenge at 12:15 p.m. (CST) on the Ashton Cross Country Course. Hosted by the University of Iowa, 225 runners on both the men's and women's side will attempt to qualify for the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships, Monday, Nov. 21, in Terre Haute, Ind. Only the top two teams on each side will earn automatic berth's to the NCAA Championships. Thirteen additional at-large bids will be awarded one day following the race, Sunday, Nov. 13, at 6 p.m. (CST). At-large bids will be posted on the NCAA website at www.ncaa.com. An additional 38 individual qualifiers will also be selected to run in Terre Haute, Ind., totaling 255 runners per gender.
Competing in the 2004 NCAA Championships the Tiger women finished second on the day to earn their third straight bid to the NCAA Championships and eighth in 11 years. Running on the Newman Golf Course in Peoria Ill., recent graduate Serena Ramsey finished first for the Missouri women and fifth overall in 20:37.23 with Jill Petersen close behind in sixth (20:45.59). Overall, Missouri's seven member squad finished among the top 50 in the field. Entering this year's Regional campaign, 28th-ranked Missouri is projected to finish fourth of the 31 programs in Region Five (Midwest). Illinois, Minnesota and Big 12 competitor Oklahoma State are ranked first, second and third in the week five Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association (WICCA) poll and sixth, 11th and 16th in the nation.
On the men's side, Missouri finished sixth overall and then-junior Tim Ross qualified individually for the NCAA Championships. Crossing the line first for the Tigers and eighth overall, Ross finished the 10K course in 30:53.64. Noonan took ninth of the 225 competitors and missed qualifying for the Championships by a little less than one second. Leading his team to a fifth place finish two weeks ago at the Big 12 Championships, Noonan returns as Missouri's front-runner for the Regional meet. In the United States Cross Country Coaches Association (USCCCA) weekly poll released Nov. 1, the Mizzou men are ranked No. 6 in the Midwest Region behind teams from Kansas, Minnesota, host school Iowa, Oklahoma State and Loyola. Three of the top-six teams competing on the men's side are ranked among the top-25 in the nation incuding Big 12 school Kansas at No. 12. Oklahoma State, is ranked No. 26 in the nation. This marks the first time of the season that the Tiger men have run a 10K race. Minnesota's men claimed the team title in 2004.
A total of 31 teams will vie for the NCAA Midwest Regional Title this year in Iowa City, Iowa. This marks the 67th and 25th running of the men's and women's race, respectively. Five teams returning to Regionals were 2004 NCAA qualifiers including women's teams from Missouri, (11th) and Illinois (20th) and men's teams from Iowa (13th), Minnesota (18th), and Oklahoma State (30th). There are nine regions, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, great Lakes, Midwest, South-Central, Mountain, West and South.