Nov. 13, 2001

MILWAUKEE - The Panther cross country teams concluded their 2001 season on Saturday with the Great Lakes Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. The UWM men finished 19th out of 31 teams, while the women finished 28th out of 31.

Finishing Up: Senior Cornelius Hill closed out his collegiate cross country career with a 42nd place finish at the Great Lakes Championships. Hill, who was a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier at South Florida, failed in his bid to make his third trip to the NCAA Championships.

Also finishing his cross country career at UWM was Pat Harrington, who placed 76th, vastly improving on his 130th place finish of a year ago. Harrington also took off over two minutes from his 10K time from a year ago.

Moving Up: The men's team's 19th place finish was an improvement on last year, when they finished 24th. The top two men's finishers also had higher placings than they did a year ago, when Aaron Nodolf finished 54th and Pat Harrington finished 130th.

Stepping Up: Freshman Steve Saul solidified his place as the top returning Panther for 2002. Saul finished third on the team for the fifth time this season to go along with one top-finisher placing. Saul finished the Great Lakes Championships in 134th place with a time of 34:07.2.

Fellow freshman Bryan Hassemer also had a successful opening season, placing third twice and second one time on the season. The two will be looked upon to help carry the team in 2002 after the departure of Hill and Harrington.

Returning a Deep Team: Despite the lower finish in 2001 than the Panther women had in 2000, head coach Pete Corfeld will have a deep women's team coming back next year. All five counters at this year's Great Lakes Championships will return in 2002. In all, the Panthers only lose one senior from this year's team.

Moving Inside: The Panther runners aren't done running for the school year. The cross country teams will join the rest of the UWM track teams for indoor track season, where the men's and women's teams will be looking to repeat as league indoor track champions. UWM also took the outdoor track and field championship a year ago for both the men's and women's teams.