Oct. 24, 2012

BIG EAST Championships Homepage

Marquette Notes (PDF) 

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette University men's and women's cross country teams head to the Bronx, N.Y. for the 2012 BIG EAST Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday, Oct. 26.

Action is set to kick off at Van Cortlandt Park with the men's 8-kilometer championship at 10 a.m. Central time, followed by the women's 6k championship at 10:50 a.m. CT. Both the men's 8k and women's 6k will feature nine Marquette runners.

The Marquette men tied their best BIG EAST finish in 2011 with a seventh-place finish at E.P. `Tom' Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., while the women finished ninth. The conference meet was last held at Van Cortlandt Park in 2008.

Men's student-athletes competing (10): Jack Hackett, Connor Callahan, Patrick Maag, Jack Senefeld, Cody Haberkorn, William Hennessy, David Sajdak, Mitch Lacy, A.J. Gedwill, Andres Tineo-Paz

Men's teams competing (14): Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette, Providence, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Syracuse, USF, Villanova

Women's student-athletes competing (10): Molly Hanson, Sarah Poirier, Hannah Frett, Christina Sliepka, Kayla Spencer, Rebecca Pachuta, Kellie Greenwood, Holly Robertson, Elisia Meyle, Sarah Ball

Women's teams competing (15): Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette, Providence, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John's, Syracuse, USF, Villanova

Marquette's BIG EAST Championship Results (athletes competing in 2012)

Women
*2005 - 3rd
2006 - 5th
2007 - 7th
*2008 - 7th
2009 - 8th 
2010 - 10th
2011 - 9th (Meyle (55), Sliepka (75), Frett (102))

Men
*2005 - 8th
2006 - 8th
2007 - 7th
*2008 - T-7th
2009 - 7th (Callahan (56), Gedwill (60), Maag (95))
2010 - 8th (Senefeld (33), Hackett (58), Callahan (63), Agnew (89))
2011 - 7th (Senefeld (40), Hackett (42), Callahan (45), Maag (58), Gedwill (68), Agnew (102)

* at Van Cortlandt Park

LAST TIME OUT: The Marquette men notched a second place finish in the championship race, and the women fifth, at the Bradley Classic at Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Ill.

The men were led by senior Jack Hackett who recorded a fifth-place finish with a time of 24:32. Classmates Connor Callahan (14th) and Patrick Maag (24th) followed Hackett as MU's second and third runners. Hackett's 8-kilometer time of 24:32 was a personal best.

Freshman Molly Hanson led the women for the the third-straight meet, notching a ninth-place finish with a time of 21:34. Along with Hanson, two other freshman, Sarah Poirier and Kayla Spencer, finished in MU's top five.

NOTES/QUICK HITS:
• Senior Connor Callahan led the MU men at the first three meets of the season and finished second to Jack Hackett in the last meet, the Bradley Classic (Oct. 12).
• Freshman Molly Hanson has led the MU women at the last three meets, while sophomore Elisia Meyle led MU at the NIU Huskie Open (Sept. 7).
• The MU women are ranked 12th in the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region, while the men are unranked.
• Head coach Mike Nelson is in his sixth season with the Golden Eagles in 2012.
• Six returning men's runners have competed in at least a pair of BIG EAST Conference Championships. Senior Connor Callahan is the only returning student-athlete to have run in the last three conference and NCAA Great Lakes Regional meets.
• Although having spent their high school years in Southeastern Wisconsin, MU has a pair of foreign-born runners in Sarah Ball (England) and Andres Tineo-Paz (Venezuela).

UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles take a week away from competition before making the trek west on I-94 to Madison, Wis., for the 2012 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 9. The women will look to best their 12th-place regional ranking, while the men, who are currently unranked, aim to improve on last season's eighth-place finish, their best since 2007. The meet will take place at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course.