Sept. 26, 2012

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's and women's cross country teams hit the road this week, heading to the 11th annual Greater Louisville Classic in Louisville, Ky. this Saturday. The meet, deemed the `South's Largest Collegiate Cross Country Meet,' will host more than 100 colleges and universities from across the country, including representatives from every BCS conference and more than 2,000 total athletes at E.P. `Tom' Sawyer State Park

The men's team will kick off the action for UWM, running in the 8K blue race, which is set to start at 10:45 a.m. The Panther women will also run in the blue race, a 5K that is slated for 11:30 a.m. Four other races are scheduled to take place Saturday with the gold races starting at 9:30 a.m. and the silver races timed to begin at noon.

SCOUTING THE MEET
While the Greater Louisville Classic serves as a new meet for the Panthers this year, it is the 11th year Louisville has hosted the big race. This year, representatives of all six BCS conferences will be competing.

A handful of nationally ranked teams will be running with Milwaukee this weekend, including women's defending-national-champion Georgetown, current women's No. 1 Washington and men's No. 6 in the nation Texas.

Cross-town rival Marquette and conference-foe Detroit will also be at this weekend's meet.

E.P. `Tom' Sawyer State Park will also serve as the NCAA Cross Country National Championships host site this year, Nov. 17.

LAST TIME OUT
UWM continued its strong start to the season at the Falcon Invitational two weeks ago.

Milwaukee, again using a shortened roster, did not officially score in the meet but the Panthers did secure a victory on the men's side over Green Bay, the only other Division I team at the meet. On the women's side, UWM fell just shy to Green Bay.

On the men's side, three Panthers finished in the top 11, led by freshman Adam Schueller who took seventh overall in just his second collegiate race. Louie Glotfelty and Brett Johnson were right alongside Schueller and finished ninth and 11th, respectively.

For the women, Carissa Schneiter set the pace in her first race of the season with a time of 24:11.4. Freshman Ana Wanniarachchi came in second for UWM and 22nd overall at 24:44.2.

LEAGUE NOTICE
Jake Reilly was named the Horizon League Men's Runner of the Week, the league office announced this Sept. 10.

Reilly, running in his first race of the season, led the Panthers by finishing first overall at the Midwest Collegiate Open in Kenosha, Wis. The senior outpaced the field of over 120 runners in the 8,000-meter race with a time of 25:51.8, a full 30 seconds in front of the next runner. This was the second-straight year Reilly won this race, helping UWM to a fourth-place finish out of 12 teams.

CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW
While Milwaukee does not technically have a true home course, it does host the Horizon League Championships this year at the same course it raced at in their second meet of the year.

If that weekend's results are any indicator, UWM is in fine shape for this year's league meet.

Although the Panthers did not use their complete roster, the men's team took fourth out of 12 teams and the women came in sixth out of 17. Jake Reilly stole the headlines by winning the race a full 30 seconds in front of the next finisher, while Sammy Woller led the women's team for the second straight week, just missing a spot in the top 10.

UP NEXT
Milwaukee will have a week off before returning to action Oct. 12 when both teams head to Peoria, Ill. for the annual Bradley Classic at 4 p.m.