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November 16, 2007 > Sports > Depleted men’s cross team finishes eighth at regionals

Depleted men’s cross team finishes eighth at regionals

By Brody Rollins | Thresher staff

Competing without its top three runners, the men’s cross country team knew it would need a borderline miracle if it wanted to do anything positive at last Saturday’s NCAA South Central Regional Championships. That miracle did not come. Rice’s lack of depth proved too big an obstacle to overcome, and the Owls finished eighth at the regional meet, held in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Owls’ 201 points were just 13 points more than fifth-place finisher Louisiana State University. The University of Arkansas, ranked seventh in the nation in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, claimed the top spot with 37 points, followed in second place by the University of Texas’ 52. Those two schools will represent the South Central region at the NCAA National Championships on Nov. 19. Shadrack Songok of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi won the individual title with a time of 29 minutes, 16.3 seconds.

The regional meet was the end to a season that saw more injuries than any other since Jon Warren (Jones ‘88) took over as Rice’s head coach in 2001. There were signs of potential doom even before the season began. Sophomore Simon Bucknell and junior Charles Hampton were forced to sit out the entire season with injuries after impressive seasons last year. The next to join them was junior Aaron Robson, Rice’s top finisher at last year’s Conference USA championships and this year’s Islander Splash Invitational. Robson has been sidelined with a calf injury since the Chile Pepper Festival on Oct. 13.

Even with the eighth-place finish, the team seemed to respond well to the change in strategy Warren employed before the meet. With only six runners competing, the Owls ran aggressively, taking chances whenever they could instead of staying together and advancing as a pack in the latter stages of the race. Sophomore Brad Morris regained his form on the course that caused him the most trouble this season and moved up 24 spots from his finish at last year’s meet en route to a 24th-place finish. Morris’s time of 31:03.01 was good enough for him to earn the only All-Region honors for the Owls.

“For Brad to finish All-Region, that was a little bit of a surprise,” Warren said. “He has really established himself as a solid runner.”

Junior Brett Olson finished 30 seconds later in 38th place, followed by sophomore Scott Zivick in 47th. Junior Justin Maxwell and senior Colby Keithan finished 50th and 67th, respectively.

As the Owls look toward next year, they will return five of the six runners that competed on Saturday as well as the three that are injured. Warren said he believes the potential for the returning squad will be great.

“The thought is right now that we’re going to put more eggs into the cross country basket for next year,” said Warren. “We are returning a group that could be outstanding.”

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