University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Cross Country Heads To Roy Griak Invitational
9/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 23, 2010
STORRS, Conn. - The University of Connecticut women's cross country team will compete in a pair of races on Saturday, September 25. The Huskies will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. to compete in the 25th Annual Roy Griak Invitational held on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The women's 6K is scheduled to begin at 1:10 p.m. UConn will also send a group of runners to the CCSU Ted Owen Invitational at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain, Conn.
The Roy Griak Invitational will feature several of the nation's top programs along with some of the top-ranked teams in the Northeast Region. Highlighting the entries in the women's 6k are No. 6 Duke, No. 14 Providence, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 18 New Mexico, No. 24 Arizona and No. 28 Minnesota.
"Our goals for Saturday will be to try to break into the top ten - but that's a tall order. With nine nationally ranked teams and three others receiving votes in the national poll we have our work cut out for us. Interestingly, I'm not the one who originally put that goal out there - that was all the team saying "hey this is what we want to shoot for" and I certainly wasn't going to stand in their way," said head coach Andrea Grove-McDonough.
UConn, ranked 10th in the latest USTFCCCA Regional Poll, will see how they fair against two teams from the Northeast Region rankings. Providence, No. 14 nationally, is ranked No. 2 in the Northeast while Boston College comes into the meet ranked No. 9 in the Northeast.
"We will also be looking to see how we stack up against a strong Boston College team, who are ranked ahead of us in the Northeast Region, and how close we can be to our BIG EAST opponent and No. 14 Providence," said Grove-McDonough.
Last season, UConn placed sixth out of 18 teams. Junior Courtney Dinnan (Hamden, Conn.) was the top finisher, crossing the line in 26th with a time of 22:49.
"I am expecting to see Shauna McNiff (Hingham, Mass.) continue to pace the squad but I think she will have some company up front in this race, which could come from any number of individuals. Allison Lasnicki (Canastota, N.Y.) continues to look strong, as do Lauren Sara (Stratford, Conn.) and Leah Andrianos (East Syracuse, N.Y.), who have really been stepping things up in practice the last few weeks. I would not be at all surprised to see one of them run number one for the team," said Grove-McDonough.
For results and a recap of the weekend's meets, visit UConnhuskies.com on Saturday.
Players Mentioned
