Sept. 27, 2007

Milwaukee - The Marquette men's and women's cross country squads will head to the Pacific Northwest for the Second Annual Bill Dellinger Invitational at the University of Oregon on Saturday, September 29. The meet starts at 9:15 a.m. PT with the women's 6K, and is followed by the men's 8K at 10:00 a.m.

"This is going to be an extremely competitive meet," said head cross country coach Mike Nelson. "We are extremely excited to see how we stack up against some of the best teams in the nation."

Senior Cassie Peller and sophomore Jayne Grebinski lead the women into Saturday's meet after finishing second and fourth, respectively, at the Midwest Collegiate Cross Country Invitational.

After the first two meets of the season resulted in team victories, the women look to continue their success against some of the premier programs in the country.

The men look to build on the first two meets with Kyle Saginus returning from injury and a fully healthy Scott Mueller.

"Kyle is feeling much better," Nelson said. "He has looked great in workouts. It will be nice to have him back."

Out of the 15 women's teams competing this weekend on the, six are ranked among the top-30 teams in the country and five of those competed in the NCAA Championships a year ago. The event host, Oregon, is no. 24 in the latest poll while the highest-ranked team on the women's side is fourth-ranked Arkansas.

On the men's side, No. 1 ranked Wisconsin leads a field which includes eight teams ranked in the top-30. Seven of the men's teams competed in the NCAA Championships in 2006 with six individuals earning All-America accolades.

This is Marquette's first trip to the Pacific Northwest since the men and women both captured team victories in the fall of 2003 at the Williamette Invitational.

Previously scheduled to compete at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational along with the meet at Oregon, Marquette has decided focus solely on the Bill Dellinger Invitational and will not travel to Chicago.

The Bill Dellinger Invitational is named in honor of former Oregon runner and coach Bill Dellinger. Dellinger also was a three-time Olympian and bronze medalist.

Marquette Golden Eagles Cross Country

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