On Friday, he will get a read WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
BLAZING A NEW TRAIL
BY MIKE LUCAS UWBADGERS.COM
W
isconsin women's cross country coach Jim Stintzi knows that pairing an established veteran with a highly-recruited newcomer can sometimes be diffi-
cult, if not uncomfortable, for both. But that certainly has not been the case this season
with his top two runners: Caitlin Comfort, a senior from Peoria, Ill., and Gabrielle Anzalone, a freshman from Grand Blanc, Mich. "Caitlin is someone who's really focused on the team and has kind of taken Gabi under her wing,'' Stintzi said. "The big thing with cross country or track is hav- ing training partners. "Especially with women because sometimes there's a gap between what is good, and what is pretty good -- so to have those two running together benefits both. "At the end of the season, is Gabi going to be better?
Or is Caitlin going to be better? They care, but I'm not sure either one of them knows. At this point, it's about helping the other get better.''
on how far each has progressed and how they measure up to the elite competition in the Wisconsin adidas Invitational on the Thomas Zimmer Cham- pionship Course. The event will showcase
some of the fastest runners and most successful college pro- grams in the country. The spot- light will also be on the Zimmer course, the site of last year's Big Ten meet.
"There's no course in the country that has the feel of this turf, this running surface,'' said Stintzi. "It's like running on fairways the entire course. "You can run a cross country
Led by a return- ing three-time All-Big Ten pick and a touted new arrival, head coach Jim Stintzi likes what he sees as his team races its way back to the top
meet on a golf course, which a lot of people do. But you're run- ning through the rough, while running on some fairways. "This is a course that was designed and built by people who make golf courses and it's maintained by our own golf course management people. "It's not only a beautiful course, but it's a great specta- tor course. You can see 90 per- cent of the race without doing a lot of run- ning around.'' Stintzi has already seen what he was hoping to see out of his UW cross country team.
