Cross country squads win two titles in home meet

By Natalie Clericuzio     9/24/09 7:00pm

Out of the 39 runners at last Saturday's Rice Invitational collegiate women's race, 17 were members of Rice's women's cross country team. Thus, not only does Head Coach Jim Bevan have more runners on his roster than ever before, but also he can almost field a full meet with just his team. "It was almost a meet between the unattached and Rice runners," Bevan said.

With that many Owls running on the Rice campus, the team ran with every advantage and the results reflected the favorable conditions. The first eight finishers at the meet were all Rice runners, although the unattached competitors were mixed in with those dressed in blue and grey.

Junior Becky Wade, senior Britany Williams and freshman Heather Olson finished first through third, all unattached. Sophomore Marie Thompson placed fourth, followed by unattached transfer from the University of Arkansas Halsey Fowler. Freshman Johanna Ohm, sophomore Michaela Reynolds and senior Claire Shorall rounded out the top octet.

---

---

Houston Baptist University placed second with 45 points behind Rice's 16 points, and Prairie View A&M University finished third with 82 points.

Missing from competition were senior Nicole Mericle and junior Allison Pye, both still battling injuries. Mericle broke her foot last spring and Pye has been dealing with reoccurring shin splints since the summer.

With these questions still remaining in his line-up, Bevan opted to run the several unattached Owls to give as many runners as possible an opportunity to compete.

"We're still defining what's best for this year and the future," Bevan said. "By running people unattached, everyone could run without affecting anyone's eligibility."

Bevan was impressed by the improvement the sophomore class showed from last season all-around, especially Reynolds and Thompson, the first official Rice finisher.

"[Thompson] was the first Rice runner and was almost one minute better than a year ago," Bevan said. "It was delightful to see how far she has progressed."

The freshman class also showed in their performances on Saturday that they will be able to contribute to the success of the team as a whole. The meet was the first collegiate competition for six freshmen, allowing them to wet their feet in Division I competition while still on familiar ground. The home atmosphere certainly didn't hurt, as all ran well and Olson and Ohm earned the right to compete for Rice today at the Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi Invitational.

Williams said she felt the team's performance showed great promise.

"I was totally excited," Williams said. "I had no idea what was going to happen, so it was great to see a few unexpected performances. For example, I had zero idea how impressively Heather Olson would perform. I was really pleased to see how strong our team really is."

Regardless of who is in uniform at this evening's meet, Bevan emphasized that he is still configuring the team's line-up for the first big meet of the season, beginning in one week at the University of Notre Dame.

"We're still deciding what's best for Britany and Becky [this weekend]," Bevan said. "Whatever we do, though ... we'll be really ready."

For the time being, all those in Rice uniforms last weekend will run again in today's meet, which will include eight schools, most importantly the University of Texas and TAMU-CC, fifth and seventh in the region, respectively. The inclusion of such competitive schools will allow Rice, second in the region and 20th in the nation, to evaluate their abilities in a larger meet than this past weekend's race.

No matter what happens this weekend, however, the performance of the freshman class thus far has reinforced to Bevan that the future of the cross country team is in good hands.

"The freshmen are learning a lot, and the upperclassmen are helping a lot," Bevan said. "Youth was the focus more than anything this weekend and that will help us down the road.

---