On Saturday, Oct. 13, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee cross country teams competed at the 2007 Pre-National Invitational hosted by Indiana State University. The meet featured almost every nationally ranked team in the United States.

The men’s teams were split up into two divisions. UWM ran in the white race and faced some tough competition. The Panthers raced against Colorado, which is ranked No. 2 in the nation, and Stanford, which is ranked No. 4.

Nick Hawley led the Panthers placing 191st and running the 8K course in 25:26. Following Hawley was Ryan Mleziva who placed 239th and ran the course in 25:58. Rounding out the top five were Eric Pitt, Mike Sorenson and Matt Dreifke who ran the course in 26:48, 26:49, and 27:28, respectively.

The top five all scored points for the team, but Andrew Fox was the team’s sixth runner and ran the 8K course in 27:35 only 7 seconds off the pace of teammate Dreifke. The team finished in 39th place, but is now well prepared for the League Championships after facing the nation’s elite.

The Panthers placed fourth in the conference last year, but are looking to move up in the standings this year.

On the women’s side Holly Nearman led the Panthers placing 77th and running the 6K course in 21:31. She was followed by Abbie Zaspel and Angie Huebner who finished with times of 22:04(104) and 22:59(187), respectively.

Rounding out the top five were Erin Magargee (23:15/198) and Liz Brothen (24:18/220). The Panther women placed 31st with 846 points. Princeton who is ranked No. 8 nationally won the race with 149 points.

The UWM men and women’s cross country teams will race next in two weeks in the Horizon League Championships hosted by the University of Valparaiso in Valparaiso, Indiana.

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