The Big Ten Cross Country Championships will be held at The Ohio State University Golf Course on Sunday, October 28th

The Women's 6,000-meter race, which will be two bigger loops around the golf course, will start at 10:45 a.m. and the Men's 8,000-meter race, which will be three smaller loops, will start at 11:30 a.m.

Ohio State University men's cross-country coach Robert Gary said "I am very excited to be hosting the Big Ten Cross Country Championships this year. We have a beautiful course and I have every confidence in the people working to make it a great event. It will be very viewer friendly and it should be a fantastic weekend."

Eight Big Ten institutions have been represented in the NCAA Division I National Cross Country Championships over the past two years. Listed below are the NCAA National Cross Country results from the past two years:

Women 2006 Michigan 3rd
Wisconsin 4th
Illinois 8th
Minnesota 11th
Michigan State 12th
Iowa 17th


Men 2006
Wisconsin 2nd
Michigan State 17th
Iowa 28th


Women 2005
Illinois 5th
Michigan 6th
Minnesota 9th
Wisconsin 20th
Michigan State 30th


Men 2005
Wisconsin - National Champions
Ohio State 11th
Iowa 19th
Minnesota 20th
Indiana 29th


For more information on the Big Ten Cross Country Championships go to: http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ViewArticle.dbml? SPSID=89199&SPID=10643&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1248682 *Feel free to email this information to your friends and enjoy these Championships as you watch some of the top cross country teams in the Nation compete in Columbus.

On a disappointing note - for some reason the newly formed Big Ten Network will not be covering the Big Ten Cross Country Championships. The Big Ten Network advertisement this fall stated that the Big Ten Network would be covering all Big Ten institutions and their sports. The Big Ten Network has shown football, field hockey, soccer and volleyball but NOT cross-country this fall. Earlier in the week their response to my emails was "We will not be airing the Big Ten Cross Country Championships this year. Hope to air it in the future." By the end of the week after numerous emails and a phone call to the Big Ten Network office their response was "It's certainly possible the cross country championships will receive coverage through on Big Ten Tonight and the Big Ten Women's Show, but we are not televising the 2007 event live." Click here to read more on this.

Let the Big Ten Network know your opinion by contacting the following: http://www.bigtennetwork.com/contact

Elizabeth Conlisk, VP/Communications - Big Ten Network elizabeth.con lisk@bigtennetwork.com

Mike Vest, Media Relations Manager - Big Ten Network mike.vest@bigtennetwo rk.com

Look for more on this later at: www.runohio.com