Butler Cross Country Teams To Compete At Great American Legends Meet

Sept. 5, 2002

INSTATE TEST: The men's and women's cross country teams at Butler will make their first road trip of the 2002 campaign when then travel to West Lafayette on Saturday, Sept. 7, to compete in the Great American Legends meet, hosted by Purdue University. The men's and women's races will be held on Purdue's Varsity Cross Country Course, beginning at 10 a.m. The meet will honor Wright State head coach Bill Schul, the 1964 Olympic gold medalist in the 5,000 meter run. Butler coach Joe Franklin will not run his complete squad in either the men's or women's race.

HOME RUN: The Bulldogs opened the 2002 season at home with a non-scoring dual meet against Ball State. Junior Lennon Wicks (Nowra, Australia) paced Butler's men with a third place individual finish in 21:34.42 on the 6,400-meter Butler Campus Course, while sophomore Bill Peterman (Ionia, Mich.) came in fourth in 21:52.55. The top Butler finisher in the women's race was freshman Maria Beitel (Powell, Ohio), who came in seventh overall in 19:17.29. Freshman teammate Monica Behney (Bloomington) placed eighth in the 5,000 meter race in 19:28.37. Butler head coach Joe Franklin held several of his runners out of the initial competition.

NOT DUNN: Butler head coach Joe Franklin was considering a "redshirt" year for junior Brian Dunn (Indianapolis) this season and entered him in the Bulldogs' opening meet as an unattached competitor. Dunn's performance may have caused the Butler coach to rethink his strategy! Dunn ran away from the pack and crossed the finish line in first place in 21:12.79, 18 seconds ahead of Jesse Davis of Ball State in second place. Dunn finished 22 seconds ahead of teammate Lennon Wicks, who was the top "official" Butler finisher.

NATIONAL RANKING: Butler's men's cross country team has gained some national attention with a "Top 25" ranking in the preseason Mondo Men's NCAA-I Cross Country Poll. The Bulldogs were ranked 24th in the initial national poll, one place behind Indiana and one spot ahead of Notre Dame. Colorado enters the 2002 season as the top-ranked team, followed by Stanford, Arkansas, Wisconsin and Northern Arizona. Indiana was the top-ranked team from the Hoosier state.

BULLDOG BITS: Senior Brad Bennett (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and junior Gary Blackman (West Midlands, U.K.) will run their first race this season at the Great American Legends Meet. Bennett was a "Top 7" runner for the Bulldogs last year, while Blackman is a transfer student from the United Kingdom...Newcomer Rebecca Lyne (Sheffield, U.K.) competed in the Commonwealth Games in England last year and posted a 2:02.45 in the 800 meter run. That time would have been the best mark in the U.S. a year ago. Lyne will run her first race for the Bulldogs on Sept. 27.