Women take 12th in race featuring nation's top teams

By Natalie Clericuzio     9/30/10 7:00pm

While the state of Texas boasts wide-open spaces, down-home barbecue and the best two-steppin' this side of the Mississippi, the Lone Star State has yet to attract top-tier teams to collegiate cross country races. In search of stiff competition, the women's cross country team traveled to the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, Minn. In Minnesota, the Owls ran against eight nationally ranked schools as well as regional foe Baylor University. Rice finished 12th overall in the field of 29 schools, led by senior Britany Williams' 32nd place finish in 21:51 minutes, beating Baylor, who placed 14th.

The 6K course was the longest race the cross country team had yet to run in 2010 and the national caliber of the meet provided the team with the first major test of the season.

Even though Rice finished outside of the top 10 and dropped from national rankings after the meet, Head Coach Jim Bevan said he thought the race was a positive experience for his team.

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"It's a very difficult course," Bevan said. "It's very hard for us to replicate that kind of competition. It had rolling hills and a few steep hills on top of that. It's one of the toughest in the country."

In addition to Williams, senior Nicole Mericle and sophomore Halsey Fowler finished 44th and 48th with times of 22:03 and 22:06, respectively. Sophomore Marie Thompson and freshman Meredith Gamble finished just behind them at 22:30 and 22:36, respectively. Gamble's performance was especially impressive considering she was suffering a cold on race day.

The top five runners impressed Bevan and showed him that the team is headed in the right direction.

"Halsey, Marie and Meredith all had their best races ever," Bevan said. "Nicole is getting it back, as she's only been full training for three weeks. Britany ran as good as she has for a front runner and she's going to get better at it. We were so close, just 12 points shy . of a very, very good performance."

The rest of the Rice cohort showed promise for the remainder of the season, according to Bevan.

"[Junior] Allison Pye and [sophomore] Heather Olson were involved for a long ways with the rest of our team," Bevan said. "I expect them to respond after that experience at Pre-Nationals. They're great runners in both respects and they will both grow from the experience."

Additionally, redshirt freshman Farrah Madanay had her shoe stepped on in the first 1,000 meters and ran the remaining 5,000 with her show half-on, half-off.

While the Owls may not have placed among the top teams, the size and level of competition should match what Rice sees at its upcoming big meet, the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 16. At that meet Rice will face as many ranked foes as were at Griak. However, the main draw of the Pre-National race is that it is held on the site of the National Championship race.

With the experience at Griak under its belt, Thompson feels the team will all the more prepared for Pre-Nationals.

"It's a really cool atmosphere in the sense that it's a very big meet," Thompson said. "It's a very competitive cross country atmosphere. It was really good for Farrah and Meredith to go there and soak up the experience because it was their first real cross country race.

"It was a good introduction for Nationals and Pre-Nationals because even at those they won't see a bigger meet than Griak. It's good that they got that exposure right away."

While Rice was competing, conference foes Southern Methodist University, University of Tulsa and University of Texas-El Paso had the weekend off in preparation for another major early-season national meet, the Notre Dame Invitational this weekend.

Out of that group, UTEP will be the ones to watch at Notre Dame, as they boast a national front runner, Risper Kimaiyo.

In 2009, Kimaiyo finished ninth overall at the NCAA Championship meet, which earned her All-American status. She was also recognized as Conference USA Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year, the first time the honor had been awarded to a freshman.

However, regardless of the competition they are up against this season, the Owls are prepared to do what it takes to find their way back to the national stage, according to Thompson.

"We know we have a ton of potential and as a team there are a bunch of really minor things that are in our way and this meet showed us just how much of an effect they're having on us right now," Thompson said. "We want to get to Nationals and this meet showed us it's absolutely doable if we just stay healthy and stay on the track we're on, then we're going to have a really good time in November.

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