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October 5, 2007 > Sports > Islanders again prove no match for men’s cross

Islanders again prove no match for men’s cross

By Brody Rollins | Thresher Editorial Staff

Rivalries usually require two parties competing on an equal level for an extended period of time, almost always going neck-and-neck.

The action brewing between the men’s cross country team and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is nowhere near that level, but to the unsuspecting observer it may seem that way.

For the second meet in a row the Owls fell to the Islanders, placing second in Friday’s Islander Cross Country Meet Splash in Corpus Christi, Texas. TAMU-CC controlled the meet from start to finish, scoring 24 points to Rice’s 44. Coming in third place was Stephen F. Austin State University with 103, while the University of Texas-Pan American and Prairie View A&M University rounded out the top five with 130 and 173, respectively.

The Owls will look to improve on this performance in two weeks when they take on some of the nation’s top teams at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. TAMU-CC will be there, but the favorite to win will be University of Arkansas, ranked ninth in the nation by Division I coaches.

Head coach Jon Warren (Jones ‘88) said that the Owls will welcome the easier course, albeit with more competition.

“We’re going to have 30 to 40 degrees cooler [temperatures], a flatter course and a field that is going to be much larger,” Warren said. “The goal is to get to the point where you are capable of running and not just hanging on.”

If Rice is to win at the Chile Pepper meet, someone will probably have to beat TAMU-CC’s Shadrack Songok. The NCAA champion in the 10,000 meters last year, Songok won the Splash Invitational with a time of 25 minutes, 20 seconds.

However, Rice runners did not finish too far behind Songok’s blistering pace. Junior Aaron Robson placed third with a time of 25:56, only three seconds behind second-place Luis Nava of UTPA.

Robson, the team’s top returning runner, was unable to perform at his best two weeks ago due to sickness, finishing sixth in the Rice Invitational. Sophomore Brad Morris continued his impressive start, finishing in seventh place on Friday after running with Robson most of the way.

Another bright spot for the Owls was the return of junior Brett Olson, who came in 11th. Olson ran well despite developing palm-sized blisters on the soles of his feet. He is listed day-to-day with the injury.

Junior Justin Maxwell and sophomore Scott Zivick also improved, finishing 12th and 14th, respectively.

Last week’s meet featured a change in strategy for the Owls. In earlier meets the team focused on running in a single group. Warren broke this single group into two, with one pack at a faster pace, in order to reduce the time between the first and fifth runners.

Unfortunately, once Olson’s blisters formed, he was unable to keep up with Morris and Robson, who ran in the lead group. Half a mile later, Morris and Robson were separated as each joined a separate pack of runners.

Injuries have hampered the team, and with the Conference USA cross country championship in less than four weeks, the margin for error is getting smaller.

“Our expectations need to come up a little bit,” Robson said. “Everyone in training realized that you can’t get in a comfort zone — you need to be pushing every day in training and then transferring that over to races.”

End of article

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