Panthers Finish Ninth At Purdue InvitationalSept. 13, 2003 WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee cross country teams faced some tough competition here Saturday (Sept. 13) in the Great American Legends race on the Purdue University campus. The UWM women's team ran well together en route to a fifth place finish while the Panther men finished eighth in the nine team field. Eastern Kentucky won the women's event with 31 total points while the U.S. Naval Academy claimed the men's title with 38 points overall. On the women's side, Katie Anderson paced a strong UWM contingent that saw five runners cross the line in the space of less than 10 seconds. Anderson finished 24th overall in a time of 19:49 while Kourtney Nault finished 32nd overall and fifth for the Panthers in 19:58. However, in between the two, UWM placed three runners as Ali Shattuck, Christine Wampach, and Anna Christian finished 25th, 29th, and 31st, respectively. Maggie Seed covered the five-kilometer course in 20:52 for 50th place while Brittany Schoessow crossed the line in 21:25, good for 60th place. "The women ran one through five very close and that is nice to see," UWM head coach Pete Corfeld said. "It is exciting to see as far as working within a group. The potential is certainly there for good things as the season rolls on." Josh Nygren paced the UWM attack on the men's side, as he finished 26th with a time of 26:35. Unfortunately, the Panthers weren't able to run as a pack as much as they would liked, as nearly a minute separated the one through five runners. Ben Weiland finished second for UWM and 41st overall, covering the eight-kilometer course in 27:06. Ben Uphoff finished 44th, Andy Kivioja 47th, and Derek Nickelson 49th to round out the Milwaukee top five. "The guys were spread out a little more than we would have liked but it was the first real meet for a lot of them so we had to shake some of the rust off," Corfeld added. "This was a true, challenging cross country course and their was some rough footing and high humidity. It was a real solid meet with some tough competition. All in all, it wasn't a bad showing on our part."
The Panthers will enjoy a week off before both teams will compete in the Central Collegiate Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. on Friday (Sept. 26).
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