After a three-week layoff, both the University of Minnesota-Duluth men's and women's cross country teams will return to action Saturday (Nov. 6) when the Bulldogs travel to Vermillion, S.D. for the NCAA Division II North Central Region Championships. The men's 10K race is set for 11:00 a.m. with the women's 6K event to follow one hour later on the University of South Dakota campus.

THE COMPETITION: Teams from three different conferences -- the North Central Conference, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference -- will take part in Saturday's event. A total of 24 schools, including defending champion Adams State College, make up the women's field while 2003 titleholder Adams State and 20 other teams will vie for the men's crown.

TRAVEL PLANS: The Bulldogs will depart for Vermillion from UMD at approximately 6 p.m. on Thursday.

THE RANKINGS: UMD is ranked 12th in this week's American Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA II Men's Poll while Western State College and Adams State College, both members of the Rocky Mountain Conference, hold down the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, respectively, and NCC colleague Minnesota State University-Mankato is eighth. The Bulldog women were not listed among the top 25 teams in the latest ACCCA poll, but Adams State and Western State College were ranked 1-2 and South Dakota of the NCC was 12th.

MOVING ON: The top six men's and the top five women's teams from Saturday will advance to the NCAA II Cross Country Championships, which are set for Nov. 20 in Evansville, Ind. In addition, the first two individual men and women finishers not from a national qualifying team will also earn a trip to the NCAA II Championships.

LAST YEAR: The Bulldog men placed fifth among 20 schools at the 2003 NCAA II North Central Region Championships in Wayne, Neb., to earn their second visit ever to the NCAA national meet. Current senior Nate Beerling (20th overall) and then sophomore Robb Winterfeld (23rd) paced UMD individually at that event. Rookie Sara Frederickson placed 19th to lead the Bulldog women, who wound up ninth as a team. The following is past team and individual national qualifiers from UMD:



BULLDOG MEN

2003 Bulldog Team

2001 Brett Carroll

1996 Eric Whiteis

1986 Tim Magnuson

1980 Brian Gaus

1973 Pat Folman

1973 Ken Hanson

1973 Paul Provance

1971 Bulldog Team

BULDOG WOMEN

2001 Tammy Stang

2000 Tammy Stang

1998 Katie Huntley

1994 Bulldog Team@

1986 Lynn Stottler

1980 LeeAnne Juba#

1979 Sue Wurl#

@Karen Walczak was the NCAA II North Central Region individual champion that year

#AIAW



THE COACH: A long-time collegiate cross country coaching veteran, John Fulkrod is winding down his 13th season with the UMD men's contingent and his 11th year as head coach of the women's team in 2004. Last fall, Fulkrod guided the Bulldog men to their second appearance ever -- and first since 1971 -- in the NCAA Division II Championships one month after they captured their 11th consecutive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference title. Fulkrod's Bulldogs have also laid claim to 10 straight NSIC women's crowns and qualified for their only NCAA national meet berth in 1994. Prior to joining the Bulldog staff, Fulkrod spent 20 years coaching at the now-defunct University of Minnesota-Waseca.

LAST TIME OUT: UMD made their first appearance in the NCC Men's Cross Country Championships a rather memorable one as the Bulldogs finished second at the league meet on Oct. 16 in Mankato, Minn. Junior Robb Winterfeld was the top UMD individual, placing third with an 8K time of 25:26.8. Senior Nate Beerling was fifth (25:34.54) followed by freshman Eric Atkinson (26:31.25-16th place), sophomore Brian Polski (26:41.19-18th) and freshman John Kallemeyn (26:48.14-21st). The Bulldogs posted a team score of 63 points while host MSU-Mankato topped the six-school competition with 50 points.



The Bulldog women, despite being without the services of standout sophomore Sara Frederickson for a third consecutive weekend, placed fourth among seven schools in their NCC debut at the North Links Golf Course in Mankato. Junior Kelsey Dahlgren (23:02.67) and senior Erin Foss (23:08.08) paced the Bulldogs with sixth- and seventh-place performances, respectively. Senior Jill Sullivan (23:56.53-19th), junior Kim Chapman (24:03.0-21st), sand senior Heather Hamilton (23:58.88-24th) were the next three Bulldogs to cross the finish line on the 6K course. South Dakota retained the women's team title for the third year in a row.