Men's XC places third again

By Jonathan Meyers     11/6/08 6:00pm

The 2008 election was about choosing a new leader for our country. Thankfully, the men's cross country team does not need the Electoral College to let them know who their team leaders are. Rice's strong core of upperclassmen carried the team to a third place finish at the Conference USA Cross Country Championships in Memphis, Tenn., this past Saturday.Senior Aaron Robson finished 11th overall, followed by junior Simon Bucknell, senior Brett Olson, junior Brad Morris and senior Justin Maxwell, for a total of 84 points. The University of Tulsa took the C-USA title with the help of top finisher John Beattie. The University of Texas-El Paso followed in second, despite having only the minimum of five runners on their roster. Head coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) was pleased with the team's overall effort, and said that UTEP and Tulsa simply ran their best races of the season.

"We were hoping we had a shot at second," Warren said. "UTEP finally, for the first time all year, ran like a great team, so our chance of second pretty much evaporated at that point. They went from being a team I thought we could beat to a team that I think could finish in the top 15 in the country. Third was good, though."

Bucknell agreed with Warren.

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"We set our goal for second at the beginning, but they ran their best race," he said. "We're probably a little disappointed."

After finishing behind two nationally ranked teams, the Owls still have the NCAA South Central Regional Meet to look forward to on Nov. 15 in Waco, Texas. Currently, the Owls are ranked 8th in the South Central Region, which includes perennial powers Texas A&M University, ranked 18th nationally, and the University of Arkansas, which has won 11 out of the past 24 cross country national championships. They will also face Lamar University, which has proved itself as a "sink or swim" type of team.

"Lamar has two great guys," Warren said. "Lamar could be second, but they could also be fifth or sixth."

Texas A&M, although they are the favorite coming into the race, has had a punishing workload this fall as far as events go, so it is still somewhat of a question if they have enough gas left in the tank for a top two finish in Waco, according to Warren.

Of the nine regions nationwide, the top two teams at each regional meet automatically advance to the NCAA National Championship Meet on Nov. 24. Since there are 31 berths in the meet, that leaves 13 at-large teams after all the automatic bids. The Owls need to finish at least fourth at the regional meet and must finish ahead of either Texas A&M or Arkansas in order to tabulate enough at-large points (similar to a "quality win" in college football) to be considered for a spot in the national meet.

The regional meet will be held at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course, which will present small rolling hills and varied terrain. Warren commented on the terrain of the course, which he considers to be neither a particularly challenging or difficult one.

The team has been striving to run as a pack this entire season, and their ability to stick together will be even more essential at the regional meet than at the C-USA championships. The C-USA championships only had around 60 runners in the field, while the South Central Regional meet will have closer to 150 runners. Warren and his team both know what strategy they will have to employ in order to have a top three finish.

"If we could get that tight pack, and have Aaron run similar to how he just run, and have a tight pack behind him, it will do wonders," Warren said.

The possible continuation of the Rice Owls' season will hinge on their leaders' ability to work together in a pack and work towards the best possible outcome: a berth in NCAA National Championship.

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