Bulldogs To Compete At Indiana State Invitational

Oct. 2, 2002

STATE RUN: The Butler men's and women's cross country squads, coming off their best performance of the young 2002 campaign, will travel to nearby Terre Haute on Saturday, Oct. 5, to compete in the Indiana State Invitational. The women's 6K race is slated for 10:30 a.m., while the men's 8K race will begin at 11:15 a.m. Both races will be conducted on the same course that will host the NCAA Division I Championship in November.

CAROLINA CRUISE: Butler head coach Joe Franklin kept his most of his top runners on the sidelines for the first month of the 2002 campaign, but he unleashed the Bulldogs at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Charlotte, N.C., and the result was impressive. The Butler men caused the biggest stir with a third place team finish in the 25-squad competition. Butler finished four points behind No. 8-ranked Georgetown, while placing ahead of No. 7 North Carolina State, No. 17 Colorado State and No. 18 Duke! Northern Arizona, ranked fifth in the nation, won the nationally-prominent competition. Butler's women finished 20th in the meet.

LEAGUE HONOR: Senior Marty Fedmowski, running in his first race this season, was named Horizon League Men's Cross Country "Athlete of the Week" following his performance at the Great American Cross Country Festival. Fedmowski, the defending Horizon League individual champ, challenged for the top spot in the 8K race, before setting for fifth place in 26:35.4. He was just two seconds behind Seth Watkins of Northern Arizona in fourth place.

NATIONAL CLIMB: The strong showing by Butler's men's cross country team at the Great American Cross Country Festival in North Carolina vaulted the Bulldogs into the No. 12 spot in the Mondo Men's NCAA-I Cross Country Poll, conducted by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association. The national ranking is the highest ever achieved by the Bulldogs! Stanford remains the top-ranked team in the nation, followed by Arkansas, Colorado, Northern Arizona and Oregon. Rounding out the "Top 10" are Villanova, Eastern Michigan, Georgetown, Weber State and Wisconsin. BYU holds down the No. 11 spot, seven points ahead of the Bulldogs. Butler was ranked 25th the previous week.

BULLDOG BITS: Butler is ranked third in the Great Lakes Region men's cross country poll. Eastern Michigan tops the region, followed by Wisconsin. The regional poll has Indiana fourth and Notre Dame sixth...Newcomer Steve Vernon made a solid impression on the competition at the Great American Cross Country Festival. Vernon, a junior from Cheshire, U.K., celebrated his first race in a Butler uniform by placing ninth in the race in 26:49.6...Senior Amber Gascoigne paced Butler's women's team at the Great American Cross Country Festival with a 40th place individual finish in 19:28.1. It was her first race for the Bulldogs this season. Newcomer Becky Lyne competed with the Bulldogs for the first time and placed 79th in 19:58.8.