Freshman leads collegiate finishers at Corpus Christi

By Natalie Clericuzio     10/1/09 7:00pm

For the past several seasons, the women's cross country team has enjoyed myriad successes, not the least of which includes competing in the national meet for the past three years. After the impressive performances of the freshmen at last weekend's Islander Splash, held at Texas A&M- Corpus Christi, the cross country team has no reason to worry about continuing their tradition of success. Freshman Heather Olson (17:00) led the Rice finishers, placing third overall as the first varsity athlete finisher behind unattached Rice runners junior Becky Wade (16:45) and senior Britany Williams (16:49). Sophomore Marie Thompson, freshman Halsey Fowler, freshman Johanna Ohm and sophomore Michaela Reynolds placed seventh, 11th, 14th and 17th, respectively, to help Rice finish-in-second behind the University of Texas. Olson's performance earned her Conference USA Athlete of the Week honors.

Head Coach Jim Bevan was especially pleased with Olson's finish to the race. With 600 meters left in the race, Olson was tied with a runner from Texas and one from TAMU-CC. In the last leg of the race, Olson sprinted ahead to gain a healthy lead and take third place all for herself.

"Heather raced a great race as she beat two experienced runners," Bevan said. "That was an outstand- ing performance."

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Olson's race was not the only impressive factor in the weekend's performance for Bevan, as he saw bright spots in the group's performance across the board, especially from his underclassmen.

"To run mostly freshmen and sophomores and finish second to Texas, we did pretty well," he said.

Besides providing an opportunity for the underclassmen to run another collegiate meet and adjust to the Division I atmosphere, the Islander Splash also allowed Bevan to size up Texas' team. According to him, Texas will provide Rice plenty of competition in the South Central Region, more than they have in years.

"This is the best team Texas has had in six years," Bevan said.

But the Longhorns are not the toughest competition Rice will see this season. This weekend the team will travel to South Bend, Ind., for the Notre Dame Invitational. This meet, typically the most prestigious in the country, is always a high point on the team's schedule.

The meet is especially important to the Owls because they won it two seasons ago. That year, the unranked Rice squad trounced eight ranked foes, including No. 2 University of Michigan and No. 11 Providence College. After that meet, Rice earned a No. 7 national ranking and began to gain national attention with regularity for the remainder of the season.

Wade believes that win left a lasting impression on the Rice squad.

"I think the Notre Dame Invite was a huge turning point and the break-out performance for our team," Wade said. "It was the first time Rice showed what we could do on the national stage."

Bevan believes this meet will be essential to the team's developing confidence for the remainder of the season.

"[Winning Notre Dame in 2007] got us to a different level in terms of the way the girls think," Bevan said. "Performing against people that are very, very good helps you, and it's a good thing to be exposed to. It builds programs that you hope to be competing against, and there's no way to be competitive with them except go up there and run against them.

"We have a very young team and it's a great learning experience because we're planning on being a year-in-and-year-out national program, so we've got to have them grow into that exposure and that experience and what it's like."

That youth will be tested after bevan's decision on Wednesday to redshirt seniors Britany Williams, Nicole Mericle and Wade and junior Allison Pye. That means the roster running at the Notre Dame Invitational will be senior Claire Shorall, sophomores Marie Thompson and Michaela Reynolds, and freshmen Olson, Ohm, Fowler, Kathryn Zebrowski, Marie Walsh and Georgina Norton.

Wade said that she was excited about the experience the freshmen will gain running this season with so many upperclassmen out of the picture.

"It will allow the freshmen and the new runners to run in big competitions and at the national level," Wade said. "It will allow a lot of them to contribute to something, and I think it will help our team grow as a whole."

Bevan says the reasoning behind the decision came out of planning for next season.

"The decision [comes from] we're planning for the future and hoping to be a team that has a chance to be one of the best teams in the country next year by the best use of our assets," he said.

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