Nov. 11, 2005

Championship Site

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's cross country team travels to Iowa City, Iowa for the 2005 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships Saturday, Nov. 12. The 'Cats are coming off an 11th place finish at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago.

The men's race is slated to begin at 11 a.m. with the women following at 12:15 p.m. The championships will be held at the University of Iowa Ashton Cross Country Course.

Among the 27 teams competing in the women's race include: Bradley, Creighton, DePaul, Drake, Eastern Illinois, Illinois, Illinois State, Illinois-Chicago, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Loyola Chicago, Minnesota, Missouri, Missouri State, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Saint Louis, SE Missouri, Southern Illinois, Tulsa, Missouri-Kansas City and Wichita State.

Northwestern Runners:
Jessica Anderson
Mallory O'Niel
Allison King
Celia Franklin
Marie Grabinski
Megan Young
Hilary Forman
Carly Brown

Last season the Wildcats finished 14 out of 26 teams at the NCAA Midwest Regionals in Peoria, Ill.

Franklin Receives Big Ten Honor
Celia Franklin (So., Wilmette, Ill./New Trier), who was Northwestern's top runner at the Big Ten Championships, was the Northwestern recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Nov. 2

"Celia deserves the sportsmanship award because she is the most positive person on the team," head coach Amy Tush said. "She has stepped up as a first year cross country runner to become our No. 1 runner at the Big Ten meet. She just keeps improving each race and continues to work hard and lead at practice as well. She has always demonstrated a positive outlook and has more to give for the rest of this season."

The Big Ten Sportsmanship Award is awarded to individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.