Sept. 15, 2006

Click here for full National Catholic Championship results

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- The Marquette cross country teams competed at the 27th Annual National Catholic Championship this afternoon, held on the campus of Notre Dame.

The #18 ranked women's team tied for first place with host Notre Dame, with both teams totalling 28 points. Nine of the first 10 finishers were either Golden Eagles or Fighting Irish runners. Marquette placed four finishers in the top 10.

ND's Sunni Olding captured the five-kilometer race, clocking 17:51. Marquette had the next three finishers, led by Jayne Grebinski's second-place finish. She ran 18:03. Cassie Peller was third in 18:10, followed closely by Heidi Lindeman in 18:11. Michaela Courtney, in her first race of the season, was ninth (18:27) while Amanda Beggs rounded out the MU scorers in 11th place (18:44).

Kaitlyn Chambers (18:51) finished 13th, while Anna Weber (19:00) was 16th, and Nina Hoppenjan (19:17) was 24th, rounding out the Marquette finishers.

"I was pleased with the women's run today." head coach Dave Uhrich said. "We knew that Notre Dame would try to go out hard on their home course, and take it to us. We were able to came back and tie for the win. Notre Dame is certainly a strong team."

On the men's side, the Golden Eagles finished second overall, with 58 points. The 12th ranked Fighting Irish captured the team title, with 48 points. Both teams kept it close throughout the race, as MU led ND 29-31 through the first four finishers.

Marquette had three top-10 finishers, led by Brent Des Roches who crossed the finish line in third place. He clocked 24:51 for the file-mile course. Kyle Saginus was fifth overall, in a time of 24:57, while Scott Mueller was seventh in 25:11. Jeremy Williams was 14th overall (25:47), while Josh Pinter rounded out the MU scorers.

Drew Craig (26:37) was 32nd, Cody Miles (26:53) was 39th, rounding out the Marquette finishers.

"On the men's side, if we were able to get our fifth runner closer to the pack, we would have had a good chance to win the meet." Uhrich said. "Both teams were even through the first four across the line. Regardless, it was our best men's performance in a while. If we close the gap between four fourth and fifth man, we could be very good."