GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The 2010 cross
country season gets off and running on Saturday when the Fighting Sioux men's
and women's cross country teams host the annual Ron Pynn Classic at the Ray
Richards Golf Course.
The
women's 5K race gets underway at 9 a.m., followed by the men's 8K at 9:45.
Both
the men's and women's races will be scored as double-dual meets and will
feature UND, South Dakota State and Seattle. SDSU's men's team was voted the
preseason favorite in the Summit League preseason poll, while its women's team
was ranked third. Seattle was ranked second in the Great West Conference
preseason men's poll and fourth in the women's poll.
UND's
women's team, under 26th-year head coach Dick Clay, was voted third
in the GWC preseason poll and returns five letterwinners from last year's team
that placed third in the conference. Among the returnees is junior Katherine Enabnit (Carmichael, Calif.),
an All-GWC second team performer last season who placed 10th at the
conference meet.
UND's
four other returning letterwinners also competed for the Sioux at the 2009 GWC
Championship: junior Emily Emerson
(Lino Lakes, Minn.), junior Meghan
Enabnit (Carmichael, Calif.), junior Angela
Kumm (Hutchinson, N.D.) and sophomore Anna
Lipetzky (Moorhead, Minn.).
Clay
also takes over head coaching duties with the men's program following the
retirement of longtime head coach Mike Grandall. The Sioux, picked seventh in
the GWC preseason poll, welcome back three letterwinners from the 2009 team,
including senior Josh LaBlanc
(International Falls, Minn.), who earned All-GWC second team honors with a
seventh-place finish at last year's conference meet.
UND's
other returnees include junior Tyler
Rose (Brainerd, Minn.) and sophomore David
Niday (Richfield, Minn.).
Admission to Saturday's event is free.
- Go Sioux -