University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols Prepare For Cross Country Season Opener
August 30, 2000 | Women's Cross Country
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.--The University of Tennessee women's cross country team will open the 2000 season at the Tennessee Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship in Nashville, Tenn. The meet will be held on Vaughn's Creek at Percy Warner Park, on Sat., Sept. 2, at 10:45 a.m. CT.
The meet, hosted by Belmont University, marks the season opener for the Lady Vols and the UT debut for first-year cross country coach Rodney Rothoff. Rothoff joined the Tennessee staff in July after stints at Clemson and Arkansas-Little Rock.
The 2000 edition of the team will also have some fresh faces as the roster includes four freshman and four sophomores. Leading the way for the returning athletes is sophomore Sharon Dickie, a 1998 All-SEC and All-Region honoree, who redshirted during the 1999 season because of a nagging hip injury. Dickie, a native of Grand Blanc, Michigan, will join returning sophomores Christy Baird (Knoxville, Tenn.), Rebecca Collins (Loveland, Ohio) and Amber Ayub (Knoxville, Tenn.). The returning athletes are no stranger to the course in Nashville as Vanderbilt University played host to the 1999 SEC Championship at the same park.
The new faces joining the squad will be looked upon for an immediate impact. The freshman pack includes Erin Anderson (Kent, Ohio), Jess Southers (Ashland, Ky.) and Renn Watkins (Wake Forest, N.C.) along with Kameisha Bennett (Dayton, Ohio), who ran for UT's track team as a freshman in 1999.
