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September 21, 2007 > Sports > Owls fall to Islanders at Rice Invitational

Owls fall to Islanders at Rice Invitational

By Brody Rollins | For the Thresher

Both injuries and failure to capitalize on home-field advantage are usually more than enough to doom teams. But dealing with both at the same time is almost always a guarantee of a loss, which is why the injury-plagued men’s cross country team was unable to claim victory at their only home meet of the season. The squad could not hang on at last Saturday’s Rice Invitational, falling second to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Rice will look to improve on last weekend’s finish next Saturday when its travel to Corpus Christi for the Splash Invitational. The Owls, who will once again try to down host TAMU-CC, are looking forward to a healthy roster and a legitimate shot at the win.

As for last weekend’s meet, the Owls struggled from the start. The Islanders were highlighted by last year’s Shadrack Songok, last year’s NCCA Outdoor Track and Field 10,000 meters champion. Songok finished first with a time of 16:58 on the 5,400-meter course, but it was the third-place finish by sophomore Brad Morris that drew the most attention.

Morris, last year’s number four starter, finished in 17:24 and was the number one Rice finisher for the first time in his career. The preseason favorite to replace last year’s All-American Pablo Solares was junior Aaron Robson, who came in sixth despite battling sickness all week.

Sophomore John Buck, senior Colby Keithan, and sophomore Scott Zivick, claimed the eighth, ninth, and tenth spots, respectively. Junior Justin Maxwell rounded out the team by placing 15th.

In the end, TAMU-CC scored only 19 points, followed by Rice’s 36, while Prairie View A&M University, Houston Baptist University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and Texas A&M University-International closed out the field in that order well behind Rice.

The race on Saturday featured a new element in the team’s strategy, as Rice runners ran together for the first two miles of the race. The reasoning behind the move is to better prepare the team for tough upcoming courses, include a high-altitude in El Paso and the 10,000-meter course at NCAA Regionals. By instituting the system, head coach John Warren (Jones ‘88) is trying to ensure that none of his runners run too hard or were left to run by themselves.

“You want to take off at a rhythm you can handle,” said Warren. “You want to make it through two miles or so and then try to race the rest of the race. You will start passing people in the second mile, definitely within the third mile. But you will give up space to the frontrunner.”

Morris and Robson were able to capitalize off of this strategy, as both caught and passed fading TAMU-CC runners in the final stretch. Morris said there are still some kinks that need to be worked out in the new strategy.

“We might have gone out a little too slow, but it’s hard to find the perfect pace,” said Morris. “It was a tricky course because it was very muddy and you couldn’t tell that going into it.”

Already with one runner under the weather, the Owls had two others watch from the sidelines. At practice on Friday afternoon junior Brett Olson rolled his ankle. After taking a light jog the following morning, Warren withdrew Olson from the competition, negating the chance of a more serious injury occurring during the race. Junior Charles Hampton also sat out due to a back strain. Both runners are expected to recover in time to compete in the next meet.

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