2012 GLVC Cross Country Championships Page
INDIANAPOLIS – The 2012 Great Lakes Valley Conference Cross Country Championships will be held this Saturday, Oct. 20, at Springfield Underground in Springfield, Mo., Drury University serving as host of the event for the first time in school history.
The 2012 Cross Country Championships will open with the 34th annual men's 8,000-meter run at 10:30 a.m. CT, followed by the 29th annual women's 6,000-meter run at 11:30 a.m. CT.
The top-placing men's and women's teams will be named the 2012 GLVC Cross Country Champions, respectively. In addition, the top 15 men individual finishers and the top 15 women individual finishers will be named All-GLVC and the medalist of each race will be named the GLVC Runners of the Year.
The top finishing freshman on the men's and women's side, respectively, will garner GLVC Freshman of the Year honors.
Southern Indiana is the defending champion on the men's side having collected their seventh-straight conference title and league-best 19th overall at the 2011 event, which was held on its own USI Cross Country Course in Evansville. The Screaming Eagles scored 27 points to win the championship, nearly half the total of runner-up Bellarmine (53). USI earned the top three finishes individually, led by GLVC Champion Brendan Devine with a time of 24:29.4 – the second-fastest 8K time in GLVC Championship history.
Lewis also has a successful history at the GLVC Championships as the Flyers have earned 10 team titles in program history, including a conference record seven consecutive crowns from 1992-98 – a feat that can be eclipsed by USI this weekend. Bellarmine (1979) and Indianapolis (2000) have each won a GLVC title, while former conference member Ashland earned two, both of which were shared championships with USI in 1990 and 1991.
Three men’s teams are currently ranked in the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Top 35 Poll, including No. 8 Southern Indiana, No. 15 Lewis and No. 24 UW-Parkside.
On the women’s side, Southern Indiana enters this year’s event on the heels of winning the 2011 crown with a six-point victory over Bellarmine – the 2010 conference champion. USI’s Jackie Henderson crossed the finish line first with a time of 21:38.3, giving the Eagles their sixth league title in program history and third in the past four years.
Former GLVC member Ashland owns a conference-record nine GLVC Championships, followed by UW-Parkside (8), Lewis (3) and Bellarmine (1).
USI is the lone GLVC women’s program ranked nationally as the Eagles are 23rd overall in the latest USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Top 35 Poll.
A new medalist will be crowned on both the men’s and women’s sides this year as USI’s Devine and Henderson have graduated. Leading contenders on the men’s side include last year’s second-, third- and fourth-place finishers. USI’s Michael Jordan (2nd, 24:40.2) and Tyler Pence (3rd, 24:43.4), and UW-Parkside’s Evan Lewandowski (4th, 24:51.7) all return with the eye on the individual crown this season. Lewis’ Andrew McLain (24:30.35) and Sean Smith (24:50.10) should also contend as the Flyer duo own the top-two 8K times in the conference this season.
Bellarmine’s Angela Musk, last year’s runner-up by six seconds at 21:44.0, was a four-time GLVC Runner of the Week honoree this season and owns three of the top-five 5K times in the conference this year. At 6,000 meters, UW-Parkside’s Jessica Watychowicz (22:23.8) and William Jewell’s Jess Connery (22:59.4) are the lone GLVC runners to post sub-23-minute times this season, while Bellarmine’s Emily Frith owns the third-fastest time at 23:00.2. Frith placed third at the conference meet last season with a time of 21:51.0.
For more information on this weekend’s GLVC Cross Country Championships, log on to
GLVCsports.com/2012ccChampionship.