Daniels places 14th on tough Minnesota course
With five runners competing in a major invitational for the first time in their careers, the women’s cross country team placed a respectable 13th out of 30 teams at the 2006 Roy Griak Invitational, held last Saturday in St. Paul, Minn.
The University of California-Santa Barbara won the meet with 91 points. Arizona State University finished second with 113 points, and Baylor University took third with 124 points. Rice scored 392 points.
The Owls travel to Corpus Christi today to race in the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Invitational, a meet featuring mostly local teams, including the University of Texas. The Corpus Christi meet is the last race for the Owls before the critical months of October and November, when the Owls will race in the Pre-National and Conference USA meet, with the potential to qualify for the NCAA Regional and National Championships.
Junior Marissa Daniels once again paced the Owls at the Griak meet, finishing 14th overall with a time of 21 minutes, 49 seconds over the six-kilometer course, 36 seconds behind first place. She was in the top pack early in the race but had to settle for 14th after struggling with the switchbacks and hills of the Les Bolstad Golf Course. Despite these troubles, head coach Jim Bevan said Daniels’ performance was the best of her career. Daniels said she believes the race is a sign of good things to come for the Owls.
“It was half of these girls’ first time to ever run a 6k,” Daniels said. “It was the hardest 6k they’ll run. So to run the first one on that course, with a lot of good competition — it was a good experience, and we’ll gain a lot out of it.”
Freshman Nicole Mericle scored for the second time in two collegiate meets, running 22:38 to place 52nd. Junior Callie Wells followed closely behind, finishing 54th with a time of 22:41. Rice’s other two scorers, juniors Lennie Waite and Laura Kelley, placed 132nd and 140th with times of 23:51 and 24:00, respectively.
Of all the Owls running at the Griak meet, only Daniels, Kelley, Wells and Garcia had run more than one meet in their careers. That inexperience, coupled with the large field of 288 runners and the unusually rugged terrain of the course, made it difficult for Rice to mount a serious challenge for a team title. Nevertheless, Bevan said he is proud his team held its own against some of the top teams in the country, including Iowa State University, Oklahoma University and the University of Arizona.
“We beat four Big 12 schools and one Pac-10 school,” he said. “It was a good learning experience and we accomplished everything I hoped for. But we need to get better.”
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