University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Cross Country Travels To Roy Griak Invitational
9/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 23, 2011
STORRS, Conn. - The UConn women's cross country team will compete this Saturday in the Roy Griak Invitational at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Huskies last competed in Smithfield, Rhode Island at the Bryant Invitational in which junior Jeanne Theleen (Southbury, Connecticut) finished as the Huskies' top runner.
The Huskies are led by Head Coach Andrea Grove-McDonough and sophomore Lauren Sara (Stratford, Conn.). Last time Sara raced she finished first and achieved a personal best of 17:10 in the Central Connecticut State University Blue Devil Invite on September 2.
"The Griak Invitational is a really exciting opportunity for us to gauge just how good we are at this point in the season. However, the nice thing about it is that we have time to make adjustments if we feel like we need to because the reality is, it is still really early in the season," stated Grove-McDonough. "Obviously we want to run our best, but I am not going to overreact to the outcome either way. It's a long road to the NCAA Regional meet and beyond."
The currently unranked Huskies will see some tough opposition at the University of Minnesota as eight ranked teams will be competing. No. 8 Iowa State, No. 10 Arizona, No. 11 Washington, No. 18 Penn State, No. 21 NC State, No. 23 BYU, No. 26 Michigan State and hosting No. 30 Minnesota will all be in attendance in Minneapolis.
Although unranked, the most recent rankings mark a special occasion for the team being its first time receiving a vote in the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I National Cross Country Coaches' Poll. When asked his thoughts on the team receiving a vote, Track and Field Head Coach Bill Morgan stated, "There has been some talk from other coaches about the possibilities for this group being placed on the national list as `receiving votes', it seems reasonable and timely as the team approaches its first major early season test in the Griak meet this weekend. Every acknowledgement is significant and receiving this attention for the first time in our cross country history is noteworthy."
"I feel really good about where our top three runners are at this state in the season, but we have some question marks at spots four and five. I am hoping that we can get some of them answered this weekend. We really need to see someone emerge from spots 4-8, which are all tightly packed together at this point, as a leader, and bridge that gap somewhat between our front three," finished Grove-McDonough.
The Huskies look to continue their success this season after finishing first in their only scored race of the season this weekend. In addition to the Griak Invitational, several members of the Huskies will also be competing at the Ted Owens Invitational in New Britain, Conn.
Players Mentioned
