Sept. 29, 2009

St. Louis, Mo. - This week's Missouri Valley Conference athletes of the week in cross country are Drake's Jeff Grassmeyer and Southern Illinois' A'Seret Dokubo. Grassmeyer was the top Valley finisher at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational, while Dokubo was runner-up at the Saluki Invitational.

In addition to the athlete of the week announcement, the Division I regional rankings were released on Monday, and eight Missouri Valley squads are ranked. Three men's teams represent the conference while five women's teams are regionally ranked.

GREAT LAKES - Men 10. Indiana State (of 15)

MIDWEST - Men 6. Southern Illinois (of 15) 12. Illinois State

MIDWEST - Women 8. Wichita State (of 15) 11. Illinois State 13. Bradley 14. Missouri State 15. Southern Illinois

CREIGHTON The Creighton women's cross country team finished fourth at the Dean White Invitational cross country meet on Satruday in Crete, Neb. Only four runners from the men's team competed in the race, so the team was not eligible to record a score. There were six teams in the women's race. Morningside College won the meet hosted by Doane College.

Sophomore Ally Lynn was Creighton's top finisher on the women's side. She finished in 12th place with a time of 20:31 on the 5,000 meter course. The time was Lynn's fastest ever on a 5,000 meter course. The individual champion was Kara Nelson from Morningside who finished with a time of 18:57. Of the four Jays in the men's race, freshman Colin McDonald was the first to cross the finish line. His time of 28:52 put him in 35th place and was his best ever 8,000 meter time by 13 seconds.

DRAKE Drake's Jeff Grassmeyer, a senior from Freemont, Neb., finished 31st out of 167 runners at prestigious Roy Griak Invitational in Falcon Heights, Minn. Meet was hosted by University of Minnesota and featured eight nationally ranked top-20 programs. it was considered premier cross country meet of past weekend. Grassmeyer covered the 8000 meter race in 25:29.

EVANSVILLE For the fourth consecutive week, junior Ryan Witters set the pace for the Purple Aces, this time by placing ninth out of 88 competitors at the Saluki Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois. Witters crossed the finish line in ninth place with a time of 27:05.0 to help Evansville to a third-place team finish in the field of eight, which included MVC rival Southern Illinois.

Rookie Lauren Zeabart led Evansville for the second time this season on Saturday, posting a time of 20:05.8 in the women's 5-K race at the Saluki Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois. Zeabart placed 17th overall out of 66 competitors in the women's 5-K race to help the Purple Aces to a fourth-place finish.

NORTHERN IOWA Northern Iowa men's cross country team took home a 16th place finish Saturday afternoon at the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. On the women's side, Carly Olsen paced the Panthers taking 23rd place overall with a 6k time of 22:30.60. On the men's side, freshman Thibault Vandenabeele paced the Panthers finishing in 55th place with an 8k time of 26:04. Alex Mark finished 89th followed by a cluster of Panthers with Andrew Nelson finishing 107th, Brady Fritz 110th and Brett Egan in 112th.

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS A'Seret Dokubo a senior from Schamburg, Ill., led the SIU women's cross country team over the weekend with a second place finish at the Saluki Invitational. The senior ran her final race on her home course with a time of 18:34.4. Dokubo helped the Salukis take 1st place at the Invite and has placed within the top ten in all three of the Salukis races this season. She finished fourth in the Panther Open at EIU and seventh at the Saluki Early Bird.

Leading a solid front pack for the Salukis, Jason Ordway, a senior from Holgate, Ohio, captured first place at the Saluki Invitational on Saturday as he finished the 8K course with a time of 26:25.2. This was Ordway's first race of the season for the Salukis, who won their second straight meet. They also won the Panther Open at EIU on Sept. 11.