2008 Woodie Awards
Women's cross sees some of nation's elite
By: D.J. Palomares
Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
The women's cross country team witnessed history twice Saturday at the NCAA Pre-Nationals.
CMU was among several of the nation's best in Terre Haute, Ind., for a meet consisting of two 6,000-meter races. Florida State sophomore Susan Kuijken finished first in the Blue division, with a time of 19 minutes, 55 seconds to break the Levern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course record by nearly six seconds.
Then, in the White division race, Colorado junior Jenny Barringer finished first in 19:48. This beat the previous record by another seven seconds.
"This meet was a great experience for us with so many competitive teams in the field," said coach Karen Lutzke. "We need to close the gap from our No. 3 runner to our No. 4 and 5 runners."
CMU competed in the Blue division race and finished 33rd out of 38. Junior Amanda Rudert said this meet was the first to which the team had to travel overnight. The trip was coupled with some of the players being sick.
Stanford finished first in the Blue division with 102 points. The Cardinals were followed by Florida State with 123 points and Michigan State with 178 points.
Rudert finished first for Central for the first time this season. Junior Kelly McClure finished second for the Chippewas.
"It was really exciting to see all of the top schools in Division I," McClure said. "Having so many people in the race made it very easy to continue to move up because you were never alone during the race."
With more than 250 runners in the Blue division alone, CMU still managed to keep its pack tight. The top five runners for Central finished within 40 seconds of each other.
Rounding out Central's top five were freshman Brittany Dixon, senior Elizabeth Carpenter and junior Jackie Rivard.
Central did not get a chance to run against Mid-American Conference foe Ohio University because the Bobcats were placed in a different division.
Ohio finished with an average time that was about 30 seconds faster than the Chippewas, but competed in a division with 30 less runners. The MAC Championships on Oct. 27 in Mount Pleasant is next for Central.
"We have been working all season for the next two meets, the MAC meet and regionals," McClure said. "We really have showed improvement each week. The next two weeks will be crucial, but I am very confident in our team's ability to perform well."
sports@cm-life.com
CMU was among several of the nation's best in Terre Haute, Ind., for a meet consisting of two 6,000-meter races. Florida State sophomore Susan Kuijken finished first in the Blue division, with a time of 19 minutes, 55 seconds to break the Levern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course record by nearly six seconds.
Then, in the White division race, Colorado junior Jenny Barringer finished first in 19:48. This beat the previous record by another seven seconds.
"This meet was a great experience for us with so many competitive teams in the field," said coach Karen Lutzke. "We need to close the gap from our No. 3 runner to our No. 4 and 5 runners."
CMU competed in the Blue division race and finished 33rd out of 38. Junior Amanda Rudert said this meet was the first to which the team had to travel overnight. The trip was coupled with some of the players being sick.
Stanford finished first in the Blue division with 102 points. The Cardinals were followed by Florida State with 123 points and Michigan State with 178 points.
Rudert finished first for Central for the first time this season. Junior Kelly McClure finished second for the Chippewas.
"It was really exciting to see all of the top schools in Division I," McClure said. "Having so many people in the race made it very easy to continue to move up because you were never alone during the race."
With more than 250 runners in the Blue division alone, CMU still managed to keep its pack tight. The top five runners for Central finished within 40 seconds of each other.
Rounding out Central's top five were freshman Brittany Dixon, senior Elizabeth Carpenter and junior Jackie Rivard.
Central did not get a chance to run against Mid-American Conference foe Ohio University because the Bobcats were placed in a different division.
Ohio finished with an average time that was about 30 seconds faster than the Chippewas, but competed in a division with 30 less runners. The MAC Championships on Oct. 27 in Mount Pleasant is next for Central.
"We have been working all season for the next two meets, the MAC meet and regionals," McClure said. "We really have showed improvement each week. The next two weeks will be crucial, but I am very confident in our team's ability to perform well."
sports@cm-life.com
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