Sept. 23, 1997

Cardinal Hosts 24th Annual Cross Country Invitational

Cardinal Corner
More than 4,000 college, university and high school athletes will compete throughout the day. The races start and finish at the second hole at the Stanford Golf Course. The women's championship invitational at 4:25 p.m. will feature three teams in the top ten (#1 Stanford, #2 Brigham Young, #8 Georgetown) and several of the top individual runners in the country. Stanford brgins a brigade of veteran and young runners, including Mary Cobb, Sally Glynn, Sarna Renfro and freshman Julia Stamps. Cobb is the Stanford record holder on the course, running 17:10 over 5,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational. At last year's Stanford Invitational, BYU's Courtney Pugmire finished second behind UCLA's Kim Mortensen (ran 16:52. second all-time on the Cardinal course). Kortney Dunscombe and Cobb placed third and fourth in the race. BYU has an abundance of talent and depth to push Stanford at the finish line. The Hoyas of Georgetown are perennial contenders and will be again this year thanks to senior All-America Kate Landau and freshman Kristin Gordon, last year's Footlocker high school national champion. From the Pac-10, look for tough individual competition from Arizona State and California runners. Vanderbilt and Kansas will give this year's meet a true championship flavor. The women will race over 5,000 meters, and the outcome of the meet will not be clear until each team's fifth runner crosses the finish line. The women's collegiate section race will be held at 4:00 p.m.

Cardinal Catalogue
The collegiate men's championship invitational will again feature several top teams and individual runners. Stanford captured the team title last year. The Cardinal, the 1996 NCAA champion, returns three All-American runners, Brad and Brent Hauser, and Nathan Nutter. Nutter placed the Cardinal to victory at last year's Stanford Invitational, recording a third place finish. Brad Hauser has the third-best time on the Stanford course, recording a 23:56 at last year's Pac-10 Championship, an event won by Stanford. With tremendous depth, Stanford appears the team to beat. However, the big challengers will come from Brigham Young, Kansas, and Pac-10 rival UCLA. Other Pac-10 teams are Arizona State and California. The premier runner in this year's race is NCAA champion at 5,000 and 10,000 meters, Mebrahtom Keflezighi of UCLA. The Bruin runner has always enjoyed great success on the Stanford course. Last year, Keflezighi took first place honors at the Stanford Invitational and the at the Pac-10's. In fact, the UCLA star set a Stanford course record with a time of 23:45 at the conference meet. Also look for great competition from such schools as UC Davis, Fresno State, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly SLO. The men's collegiate section starts at 5:30 p.m.

Media Memo
Stanford will be the host for the Pac-10 Cross Country Championship on Nov. 1, and the Pac-10 Track & Field Championships on May 23-24.

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