Oct. 8, 2001

MILWAUKEE - The UWM cross country teams are preparing to compete this weekend at the Parkside Invitational, hosted by UW-Parkside.

At Parkside, the Panthers will be competing on the same course that annually hosts the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships for club runners.

The Panthers are coming off a decent showing at the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday. The women's team placed seventh out of 14 teams in the Gold race, while the men finished 10th out of 18 teams in the Gold race.

For the women, junior Abby Hurst (Little Chute, Wis./Little Chute) again paced the team. Hurst finished fifth overall but took the third team placing in a time of 18:25 for the 5K course. Her time was the top time for the Panthers at that distance in 2001.

Freshman Christine Wampach (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles) continued her outstanding rookie campaign by being the team's second counting runner. Wampach crossed the finish line in 19:25, good for 37th place.

Katie Olander (Menasha, Wis./Menasha) was the next runner overall to cross the finish line. Olander, a junior, finished 38th overall, two seconds behind Wampach. Following Olander was fellow junior Leah Van Roy (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly). She finished 43rd with a time of 19:33. Another junior, Brianne Peterson (Plymouth, Wis./Plymouth), was the team's fifth counter. Peterson placed 52nd with a time of 19:43.

On the men's side, senior Cornelius Hill (Milwaukee, Wis./Bay View) is starting to show the form that made him a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier in cross country. Hill ran his best race of the year at 8K, finishing third overall with a time of 25:08, the top UWM time at 8K on the season.

Another senior, Pat Harrington (West Allis, Wis./Central), also ran well. Harrington placed 18th overall, finishing the course in 25:35, only a second off his top time in 2001.

Freshman Steve Saul (Lisle, Ill./Lisle) continued to impress. Saul was the third Panther counter, placing 71st overall with a time of 26:28.

Jeremy Dunn and Andy Kivioja rounded out the top five for UWM. Dunn, (Lancaster, Wis./Lancaster), a junior, placed 87th, finishing the course in 26:51. Kivioja (Grafton, Wis./Grafton), a sophomore, placed 91st, finishing two seconds behind Dunn.

More on Parkside

Parkside is the home to many high school cross country meets in southeastern Wisconsin, so it should be a course that is familiar to many of the Panther runners.

At Parkside, the Panthers will get yet another look at Horizon League rivals UW-Green Bay and some runners from Loyola, who will also have runners competing at the Pre-National meet in Greenville, S.C.

The Parkside Invitational is the final event on the schedule before championship season begins. Following Parkside, the Panthers will have a week off before competing in the Horizon League Championships.

More from Notre Dame

Both Panther teams ran in the Gold race, while most of the top competition in the country ran in the Blue race. However, the top UWM finisher in each race would not have been buried in the pack had they run in the Blue race.

Cornelius Hill, who placed third in the Gold race, would have still had a top-25 finish had he run in the Blue race. Hill's time of 25:08 would have placed him 24th in the top competition.

Abby Hurst, who finished fifth in the women's Gold race, would have finished 30th if her time carried over into the Blue race.