BYU Cross Country Makes Impressive Showing at Roy Griak Invitational

MINNEAPOLIS (September 25) - The BYU men's and women's cross country teams finished second at the Roy Griak Invitational, a meet that attracted

many of the nation's best teams.

The No. 27 Cougar men continued to surprise the experts, as their second-place finish out of 28 teams included victories over teams ranked sixth, seventh, ninth, 13th, 15th, 19th, 21st, and 25th nationally.

No. 5 Wisconsin claimed the men's title with 86 points, followed by BYU (133), No. 6 Northern Arizona (143), No. 9 Oregon (172) and No. 19 Weber State (197).

John Hedengren led the way once again for the Cougars, finishing in seventh overall in a time of 24:37. Randon Richards finished in second for the Cougars (13th overall) followed by Mark Lawson (19th), Matt Poulsen (20th) and David Danley (75th).

The Cougars were able to make a strong impression despite the fact that two of their best runners, Matt Poulsen and Dula Parkinson, are battling illness while trying to stay in race shape.

Coach Sherald James was more than pleased with his team's success. "It was a tremendous performance on our part. I feel very, very encouraged. We were a

little overlooked at the beginning of the season, but we made believers out of a lot of people today."

The No. 1 BYU women, running without their three top athletes, finished behind No. 16 Arizona State to claim second place. Sharolyn Shields, Laura Heiner and Elizabeth Jackson, who are All-Americans, sat out the race to rest for the Stanford Invitational next weekend.

Arizona State emerged victorious on the women's side with 53 points, followed by BYU (73), No. 23 Minnesota (165), No. 18 Mississipi (178), and Nebraska (190).

Redshirt sophomore Tara Rohatinsky led the way for the Cougars, finishing in third place in 17:39. Also scoring for the Cougars were Sherida Rogers (9th), Kara Ormond (13th), Jill Rencher (19th) and Tara Haynes (29th).

"Although we've already been beaten twice this year, we beat some good teams last week and 23 really good teams here today," said Coach Patrick Shane. "We are resting some of our girls so we can run with a full lineup in the last four meets of the year."

The Cougars' next meet is Saturday, Oct. 2 at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.

TEAM RESULTS

Men

1 Wisconsin 86

2 BYU 133

3 Northern Arizona 143

4 Oregon 172

5 Weber State 197

6 Providence 206

7 Portland 209

8 Arizona State 217

9 Missouri 263

10 Duke 325

Women

1 Arizona State 53

2 BYU 73

3 Minnesota 165

4 Missouri 178

5 Nebraska 190

6 UCLA 206

7 Northern Arizona 226

8 Duke 247

9 Providence 271

10 Colorado State 274

BYU FINISHERS

Men

7 John Hedengren 24:37

12 Randon Richards 24:50

19 Mark Lawson 25:03

20 Matt Poulsen 25:05

75 David Danley 25:51

78 Trevor Pettingill 25:54

89 Nic McCombs 26:04

104 Nate Harrison 26:13

119 Dula Parkinson 26:19

Women

3 Tara Rohatinsky 17:39

9 Sherida Rogers 18:05

13 Kara Ormond 18:09

19 Jill Rencher 18:16

29 Tara Haynes 18:23

56 Emili Lawson 18:45

57 Melanie Steere 18:46

81 Jolee Gillespie 19:05

82 Jaime Philburn 19:05

83 Laurel Hildebrandt 19:06

94 Caisa Monahan 19:12