Sept. 29, 2004
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s cross country team will participate in the Notre Dame Invitational this Friday, October 1, 2004, in South Bend, Ind. The race will take place on the Burke Memorial Golf Course on Notre Dame’s campus. The Jackets are set to start at 4:15 p.m. with the women’s five-kilometer race followed by the men’s eight-kilometer race set to start at 5:00 p.m.
“We’re looking forward to a great meet with outstanding competition on Notre Dame’s cross country course,” stated Georgia Tech head coach Alan Drosky. “The last few weeks of training have gone really well and the men and women are anxious to line up and race. With our last meet being cancelled due to Hurricane Ivan, this will only be our second meet of the season but I think they are ready.”
Competing in the same division as Tech are several nationally ranked cross country teams. In the women’s division, Stanford (1), tournament host Notre Dame (4), Michigan (6), UCLA (12), Butler (T-19), Michigan State (22), Missouri (23), William & Mary (24) and Oklahoma (27) are all ranked in the nations top-30 poll according to FinishLynx. On the men’s side, Stanford (2), BYU (9), Butler (11), Air Force (13), Indiana (15), ACC foe Florida State (28) and tournament host Notre Dame (30) are all ranked according to the United States Cross Country Coaches Association.
Running for the Rambling Wreck men are seniors Kyle Rabbitt, Neil McDonagh and Barton Crist, junior Rob Kuhn, sophomores Chris Clarke and Blake Fertitta, and freshmen Ryan Pfeffer and Nazar Trilisky.
Rabbitt will be competing in his first race for the Jackets this year. Rabbitt is coming off of an excellent year in 2003. The senior from Tyrone, Ga., earned all-region honors with his fourth place finish at the NCAA South Regional to become only the third runner in Tech history to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Rabbitt was also Tech’s top competitor at the ACC Championships in 2003.
Kuhn is coming of a tenth place finish for the Jackets in the Georgia State Invitational. Pfeffer (12) and Trilisky (13) both posted top-15 finishes in the GSU Invite. Clarke, Fertitta and McDonagh finished 18th, 19th and 23rd in the Georgia State Invitational respectively. Crist will be participating in his first race of the year.
For the Yellow Jacket women, senior Jenny Lentz, junior Jennifer Grabowski, sophomores Ann Armsby and Mary Chind, and freshmen Maria Hampton, Nisha Kurian, Elena Linn and Emily Yandle will be competing for Tech.
Armsby is coming off of her seventh place performance at the Georgia State Invitational. Keeping pace with Armsby was eighth place finisher Chind. Freshmen Linn and Kurian placed tenth and 11th at the Georgia State Invitational respectively. Yandle (14), Hampton (16), Grabowski (18) and Lentz (20) all placed in the top-20 for the Yellow Jackets at the Georgia State Invitational.
Race results and a recap will be available on www.ramblinwreck.com on Friday evening.
-GT-
