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September 8, 2006 > Sports > Women poised to defend C-USA title

Women poised to defend C-USA title

Wells, Daniels, incoming freshmen should offset loss of top scorers

By Stephen Whitfield | Thresher Editorial Staff

Last year, the women’s cross country team had its most successful season in over a decade, notching an easy victory in the Conference USA Championships and competing in the NCAA Championships for only the third time in team history. Despite the loss of its top scorer from last year’s championship team, Kate Gorry (Lovett ‘06) and some improved competition in the conference, Rice is in great position to repeat.

The Owls will begin the season at the Rice Invitational tomorrow at 8:20 a.m. at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium. Rice has won all but one of these meets since 1992, but this year’s meet should be one of the most competitive in years. Teams such as Southern Methodist University, the third-place finisher at last year’s C-USA title meet, and Lamar University, the fourth-place finisher at the NCAA South Central regional meet, will compete. Head coach Jim Bevan said the Rice Invitational is an opportunity for the runners to get into racing form.

“We’ve got to get started, and we’ve got to learn how to race again,” Bevan said. “For a lot of these young ladies, it’s been four months since they’ve run a race. That’s a long time in between races. Training is good, but racing is different. … Racing is a whole other animal.”

The Owls will look at this meet as a tune-up for the Conference USA Championship meet, which will take place Oct. 28 in Greenville, N.C. Junior Callie Wells said she looks forward to starting the season in front of her home crowd.

“For me, it’s really exciting to be racing at home with my parents … out there,” Wells said. “Hopefully a lot of Rice people will be out there. I’m excited to see them watch our team.”

A couple of teams in C-USA should challenge Rice this year. SMU returns almost all of its runners from last year’s squad. The biggest challenge, however, should come from the University of Alabama-Birmingham. The Blazers, who finished second at C-USA last year, return all of their five scorers, including defending individual champion Elizabeth Ambrus. UAB’s performance was impressive given that most of their points came from underclassmen who should only improve. No other team in the conference, except Tulsa University, should be highly competitive this year, though Bevan said any team could change its fortune with new recruits.

“The one thing about our sport is that you could bring in four really good distance runners and it could change the whole complexion of a team.”

The Owls enter the season without three of their five scorers from last year’s C-USA meet: Gorry, the 2004 Western Athletic Conference champion who was 1.35 seconds from duplicating the feat in C-USA last year, Anna Reeve (Will Rice ‘06) and Sarah Yoder (Baker ‘06), a top-25 finisher at the NCAA Championships last year. However, he team is in good shape. Wells, who placed a close third at C-USA, is the Owls’ top returning scorer. Another junior, Marissa Daniels, the Owls’ only top-five finisher at the regional meet, should also be a major factor in conference this season. Sophomore Lea Garcia is the only other returning top-20 finisher from the C-USA meet.

Wells said she is excited about Rice’s prospects.

“So far, I think it’s looking good for our team,” Wells said. “Our returning runners … got a lot of mileage and are a lot stronger than they had been. Overall, I think we’re as strong or stronger than last year.”

The team should also receive a huge boost from its incoming freshman class. One newcomer, Nicole Mericle, won four straight individual cross country titles for the John Cooper School in the Woodlands. Another freshman, Brittany Williams, finished runner-up to Mericle at the SPC cross country championships last year. Bevan said the incoming freshmen and the returning runners could prove to be a powerful combination.

“We also return five of our top eight [scorers], and if they improve, that will partially take care of the loss of Kate,” Bevan said. “We’ve also brought in four new freshmen. … If we can get development from the new people and those five that are returning, I think we can make a run at defending our title and getting back to the national meet again.”

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