2008 Woodie Awards
Men, women look to qualify for nationals
By: Brian Fisher
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Sports
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After a two-week layoff, the men's and women's cross country teams will be back in action Saturday to compete in the NCAA Div. III Great Lakes Regional. The meet will take place in Grand Rapids, Mich. and is being hosted by Calvin College.
Unlike most collegiate sports where teams must qualify for the regional, all NCAA Div. III schools are allowed to participate.
This year, however, will be the first time in eight years that the men's squad has not carried the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) title with them into the Great Lakes Regional.
"We'll actually have some good momentum going into it," said head coach Kori Stoffregen. "The fact that we finished second in conference is a good thing. Going into conference we were ranked no better than fourth, so that showed that we really improved throughout the course of the year."
Stoffregen said he expects senior Dusty Kime to pace the Tigers on Saturday after a fourth-place finish two weeks ago in the SCAC Championships in Georgetown, Texas.
"He's been our top runner all year," Stoffregen said. "We're looking forward to him having a good race. If he runs well, he has a good chance to qualify for nationals."
Another junior who will likely be a front-runner for DePauw is Nate Ellis.
"We're all going to feed off of Nate," said senior runner Mike Murphy. "I think he's the guy. If we all run with him, we have a good chance to advance."
The team knows it has an outside shot but is still hopeful to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The top two finishing teams in regional automatically advance, while other teams can only hope for an at-large bid. Stoffregen said that in order to be in good position to receive a bid, teams usually need to finish in the top four.
The past few seasons the team has sent several individuals to nationals, including two graduated seniors last year, but has not made an appearance as a team since 2004.
"We know that we have somewhat of a chance to make it out but we haven't set our expectations too high," Murphy said. "We know we have nothing to lose going into the race."
Unlike most collegiate sports where teams must qualify for the regional, all NCAA Div. III schools are allowed to participate.
This year, however, will be the first time in eight years that the men's squad has not carried the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) title with them into the Great Lakes Regional.
"We'll actually have some good momentum going into it," said head coach Kori Stoffregen. "The fact that we finished second in conference is a good thing. Going into conference we were ranked no better than fourth, so that showed that we really improved throughout the course of the year."
Stoffregen said he expects senior Dusty Kime to pace the Tigers on Saturday after a fourth-place finish two weeks ago in the SCAC Championships in Georgetown, Texas.
"He's been our top runner all year," Stoffregen said. "We're looking forward to him having a good race. If he runs well, he has a good chance to qualify for nationals."
Another junior who will likely be a front-runner for DePauw is Nate Ellis.
"We're all going to feed off of Nate," said senior runner Mike Murphy. "I think he's the guy. If we all run with him, we have a good chance to advance."
The team knows it has an outside shot but is still hopeful to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The top two finishing teams in regional automatically advance, while other teams can only hope for an at-large bid. Stoffregen said that in order to be in good position to receive a bid, teams usually need to finish in the top four.
The past few seasons the team has sent several individuals to nationals, including two graduated seniors last year, but has not made an appearance as a team since 2004.
"We know that we have somewhat of a chance to make it out but we haven't set our expectations too high," Murphy said. "We know we have nothing to lose going into the race."
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