Oct. 2, 2008
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Kentucky cross country squads face their toughest challenge yet this year at the 53rd-annual Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind., Friday. The Wildcats will run in the blue division races beginning with the women’s 5K competition at 4:15 p.m. ET, followed by the men’s 5-mile trek at 5:00 p.m. on the University of Notre Dame Golf Course.
The Invitational’s women’s competition showcases 12 nationally-ranked teams led by No. 3 Florida State, No. 6 Princeton and No. 10 Illinois. On the men’s side, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 Georgetown and No. 19 Providence lead the field alongside four other ranked teams including the host Fighting Irish at No. 27.
“The competition at this meet is really tough this year,” said UK assistant coach John Mortimer. “Teams could begin accumulating NCAA points towards an at-large bid last weekend, so there will be some opportunities for us in South Bend.”
NCAA points come into play at the regional meets in November. After the top-two teams from each region automatically qualify for the National Championships, squads outside of the top two in each region earn at-large selection points based on their finishes against those teams already in the field.
Two weeks ago at the Iona Meet of Champions Kentucky athletes Jessica Ortman, Adam Henken, and Jeremy Zagorski earned All-Meet honors. Ortman led the women’s squad across the finish line for the second consecutive meet this season in a 6K time of 22:37 to finish 15th overall. Henken, a sophomore, led the UK men for the first time in his young career by completing the 8K course in 25:06 in 13th place, while Zagorski’s time of 25:18 was good for 21st overall. The UK women finished fifth overall in the team standings while the men placed seventh overall.
This is not the first time that UK has run in South Bend. Three years ago the Wildcats finished 15th on the women’s side led by former Wildcat Allison Grace. Meanwhile, the UK men placed 23rd overall in 2005 with departed senior John Richardson leading the squad.
Meet results and a complete UK recap will be available Friday on UKathletics.com.
