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Women�s Cross
Country Team Prepares for Another Trip to Nationals
Becoming a fixture at
the NCAA Division III women�s cross country championships, UW-Stevens
Point will make its sixth appearance in seven years and third straight
when the event takes place Saturday in Delaware, Ohio.
The Pointers enter the
meet with their highest national rank of the season at No. 10 in this
week�s pre-national poll. UW-Stevens Point placed third at the Midwest
Regional and second at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
championships under first-year coach Christina Peterson.
 The
senior duo of Jenna Mitchler and Teresa Stanley (pictured) has enjoyed a
strong season and both will contend for All-American honors at this
weekend�s competition. The top 35 finishers receive All-American
accolades and Mitchler placed 23rd at last year�s national meet. She
could become the third athlete in school history to earn back-to-back
All-American honors, joining Becky Lebak (2000-01) and Leah Juno
(1999-2000).
Mitchler and Stanley
have finished within 15 seconds of each other at the past three meets
with Mitchler placing third at the regional and Stanley finishing
seventh. Stanley edged Mitchler by four seconds at the conference meet
as they placed second and third, respectively.
Ashleigh Potuznik and
Hannah Dieringer both are coming off their best performances of the
season after posting times at last week�s regional nearly a minute
faster than their previous best 6,000-meter time. Potuznik was 25th
overall and Dieringer placed 32nd.
Ashley Woest, Tami Scott
and Kayla Anderson each finished within seven seconds of another at the
regional and will battle for the critical fifth spot in the team
scoring.
Overall, the Pointers
are making their 14th trip to the national meet and have placed among
the top teams the past two years with a third place finish in 2003 and a
sixth place effort last season.
The race features 24
teams as well as 47 individual qualifiers and takes place at 10 a.m.
(central time) on Saturday. The event is hosted by Ohio Wesleyan
University. |
