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October 5, 2007 > Sports > Women’s cross earns first ever top-10 ranking

Women’s cross earns first ever top-10 ranking

By | Thresher Editorial Staff

Baseball’s reign as the lone top-10 ranked team at Rice is over. After trouncing eight ranked opponents last weekend at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind., the women’s cross country team went from being unranked to No. 7 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.

This top-10 ranking, the highest in Rice cross country history, could not have come at a better time for the Owls, who now face the most challenging portion of their schedule with an extra boost of confidence. On Oct. 13, Rice will travel to the Hoosier State to compete in the difficult Pre-Nationals Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.

The key to Rice’s success at the Notre Dame meet was, once again, running a steady race that emphasized team-oriented attacks. As other teams unsuccessfully attempted to maintain an early position, most of Rice’s runners moved up 20-25 spots throughout the race.

The Owls were successful at breaking up top-ranked teams such as then-No. 2 University of Michigan, then-No. 7 University of Illinois and then-No. 12 Florida State University. Rice’s top seven runners all finished within a minute and a second of each other, which allowed the Owls to score 118 points and capture the team title, 21 points better than second-place Illinois.

“Sometimes teams will go out too fast, [but] we weren’t concerned about that,” head coach Jim Bevan said. “We wanted [to run] our own race and do what we could do and take care of what we could take care of.”

Rice’s victory over nationally-ranked opponents has been an exhilarating experience for both coach and runners alike. Bevan said he was thrilled his non-traditional team defeated the traditional national powerhouses that usually dominate big meets.

“You got four schools [competing last week] that are at nationals year in, year out,” he said. “And we beat them with seven kids from Texas, two freshmen [and] an ex-soccer player. These kids are stepping up.”

Just as in previous meets, senior Marissa Daniels set the tone for the Owls. Daniels was able to run with the leaders for most of the race before finally settling into seventh place with a time of 16 minutes, 59 seconds. Daniels’s efforts earned her the Conference USA female cross country athlete of the week award for the second straight week.

The Owls’ core group of runners, freshmen Allison Pye and Becky Wade and seniors Lennie Waite and Callie Wells, stayed within 21 seconds of each other to push Rice over the top. Pye and Wade ran strong despite being in their first major invitational meets.

[Pye and Wade] are both very diligent in their preparation, very diligent in their desire to do well,” Bevan said.

For Waite, in her second year as a runner after playing soccer for the Owls, another year of training and race experience has helped.

“Last year, I felt like I was training, but when I went to go race, I didn’t feel like the training was really paying off,” Waite said. “My legs were always dead — I just wasn’t used to it. This year is a lot easier and I’m running a lot faster. It’s really rewarding to finally have that happen.”

The Owls now seek to capitalize on their performance at Notre Dame. With a potential at-large bid to the national meet closer at hand, Rice now looks to improve even more as it faces Pre-Nationals, the Conference USA championships and the NCAA regional meet.

“We still got a lot to do and we want to run at the highest level we can run,” Bevan said. “We want to take this as far as we can take it. We might have a chance to do something real special at the end of the year, not just special in the regular season.”

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