Posted: December 3, 2004

Athletics: Indiana Invaders Headed To USATF Cross Country Nationals

(INDIANAPOLIS) The Indiana Invaders women's cross country team will compete at the 2004 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on December 4th in Portland, Oregon.

The Invaders won the women's team title in 2001, and have finished no worse than second in the team's four appearances at these championships. The Invaders had runner-up finishes in 1999, 2000, and 2002.

Members of the Invaders to compete in the meet are Anna Aoki, Keisha Banks, Stephanie Dueringer, Amy Manson, Heather May, Lesley Read, and Jessica Textoris.

Aoki is an All-American, Two-Time Pacific 10 Conference Champion in the 10,000. Banks was 15th and Dueringer was 13th at the 2002 Club Cross Country Championship. Manson, an NCAA D-I All-American graduate of Indiana University, is a three-time US National Team Member. May competed in the US Olympic Marathon Trials in 2004. Read is the University of New Hampshire steeplechase Recordholder. Textoris was NCAA D-III national 2003 runner-up in the steeplechase.

Coach Greg Harger said, "This team is something of a “train wreck” in the origins of its creation, with all but one overcoming recent, significant fitness challenges. It has been everything from freak injuries, maternity leave, major time off from competition for graduate school and career pursuits to simply discovering running late in life. The team is 100% healthy, but not in PR shape from a pure speed standpoint so this setting and the conditions of the course could not be any more appropriate for us. It's not going to be pretty race, but we look forward to the battle ahead of us on Saturday." Harger added, "This group has been very enjoyable to pull together what with their almost collegiate team spirit. They are the makings of a core group that will likely see great progress and many successes in the next couple of years both as a cross country team and individually."

The course is at the Portland Meadows race track and more than 60 clubs and 900 competitors are expected to compete in this championship event.

The meet's team champions will receive the Fred Wilt Traveling Trophy, an award presented in memory of Fred Wilt, a former NCAA Cross Country Champion while at Indiana University, the Head Women's Track and Cross Country Coach at Purdue University and a member of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame.

2004 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships USATF.org.

For further information on the Indiana Invaders, please contact Greg Harger at 317 289-4018 or online at: (greg.harger(at)indianainvaders.com) IndianaInvaders.com