University of Tennessee Athletics
2001 CROSS COUNTRY SEASON IN REVIEW
August 23, 2002 | Women's Cross Country
Aug. 23, 2002
The 2001 edition of the University of Tennessee women's cross country team began the season with numerous question marks. The team returned an All-American from the 2000 squad as well as four other runners, but that group was joined by a large contingent of newcomers. The new faces spanned from a high school All-American to first-time cross country runners. Those elements, which led to a roster that included 10 freshmen and sophomores, left even the coaching staff wondering where the season would go. Regardless of the relative inexperience of the team and a coach in only his second season at UT, the Lady Vols moved "Full Steam Ahead" into 2001.
With a long track in front of them, the Tennessee runners got the season underway earlier than usual as the team headed just across the North Carolina state line to compete in the Mountaineer Open in Boone, N.C. In keeping with his training philosophy from 2000, Coach Rodney Rothoff only took part of his squad to the Friday evening twilight meet while the remainder of the group skipped the competition as part of their training schedule.
Freshman Brooke Novak, an All-American as a high school track star in Wisconsin, immediately turned heads as she won her first race in the Tennessee orange. She crossed the line at the Appalachian State course, known as the State Farm, in a time of 17:39. That mark was not only good enough for the win, but it was also the fifth-fastest time ever run at the course. After the solid weekend debut, Novak earned Southeastern Conference Athlete of the Week honors and, as it would turn out, she was the only Lady Vol to earn the nod all year.
With Novak stealing headlines with her first individual win, Tennessee also fared well as the squad finished fourth in a field of 12 teams with a total of 116 points. With Novak crossing the line in first, sophomore Jessica Southers was not far behind as she took fifth with a time of 18:22. Freshman Elizabeth McCalley also made headlines in her debut in the Orange and White as the Knoxville native was the third UT finisher when she took 18th overall with a clocking of 18:40. Sophomore Erin Anderson crossed the line in 43rd with a time of 19:38, followed by freshman Nicole Cook in 56th in 20:05. A true sign of Tennessee's youth was that all five of the scoring runners for the Lady Vols in the first meet of the year were freshmen or sophomores. Junior Amber Ayub and sophomore Kameisha Bennett rounded out the Tennessee pack in 77th and 101st, respectively, with times of 20:57 and 22:33.
Following the Mountaineer Open, the Tennessee squad looked ahead to its lone home meet of the season-the Tennessee Invitational on Sept. 14 at Lambert Acres Golf Club in Maryville, Tenn. Unfortunately, the meet was cancelled along with all of the other Lady Vol events of the weekend due to the terrorist attacks on America on Sept. 11. The decision left Tennessee without a home event for the first time since 1997.
After a two-week layoff, the contingent from Knoxville next headed west to Nashville to compete in the Commodore Invitational on Sept. 22, a meet hosted by SEC foe Vanderbilt at the 5,000-meter course at Percy Warner Park. Originally scheduled as a meet for some of the younger runners, training schedules and the cancellation of the Tennessee Invitational increased the importance of the meet, as it would mark the debut for junior Sharon Dickie and sophomore Christy Baird. Dickie did not disappoint in her first meet of the season as she finished first overall with a time of 18:05. The All-American's win helped Tennessee to a fifth-place finish with 140 points in a field of 25 teams.
McCalley, though, stole the show as she was a surprising 10th, and the second Lady Vol to cross the line, with a time of 19:00 in her second collegiate race. Anderson was 24th in a pace of 19:34, while Baird finished her first race in 20:16 for 41st. The outing in Nashville was the first cross country race in more than a year for Baird as she sat out most of 2001 with a hip injury. Ironically, her last competition before the injury was also at the Warner Park course in the state capital. Other Lady Vols competing in Nashville included Cook, who was 74th with a time of 21:10, and Ayub, who crossed the line 94th with a clocking of 21:25.
With two meets under its belt, Tennessee's toughest part of the schedule began on Sept. 29 with the Auburn Invitational, the SEC preview meet. The 5,000-meter course at the Indian Pines Golf Course was a shorter distance than the 6K course for the league meet, but the outing still provided a preview of the basic course layout. A tough field awaited the UT runners, and almost the entire team earned personal-best times to help the squad to an eighth-place finish out of 32 teams. Dickie again led the way as she took fourth overall with a clocking of 16:57.08.
McCalley kept true to form as she was the second Lady Vol to cross the line, registering a time of 17:35.88 for a 30th-place finish in the field of 241. Southers was close behind in 37th in 17:43.04, while Anderson was 60th in 18:11.67. Baird rounded out the scoring with a time of 18:14.36 for 64th position. The rest of the Lady Vols racing on the Plains were Cook (104th, 18:56.71), Ayub (125th, 19:26.62) and Bennett (162nd, 20:21.10). Training schedules and nagging injuries held Novak out for the second straight meet.
Just as the UT squad finished one preview meet, the team went straight to another with the Furman Invitational next on the slate. The Oct. 13 race in Greenville, S.C., was a chance to preview the course for the NCAA Championships, and it was also the Lady Vols' first opportunity to run the 6,000-meter distance in 2001. The designation of the Furman Invite as the NCAA preview meet led to an extremely large field that was broken down into two divisions. The Lady Vols were placed in the "Silver" race that featured 38 teams, including No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 N.C. State, No. 4 Brigham Young, No. 6 Boston College and No. 12 Colorado State as well as eight other teams that were either ranked or receiving votes.
Facing a daunting field, the Orange and White recorded a 16th-place team finish but did manage an upset of 25th-ranked Baylor despite hot and humid conditions for the team's first 6K of the year. Holding true to her season-long form, Dickie was the first Tennessee finisher as she crossed the line in 21:55 for a 38th-place finish. The Grand Blanc, Mich., product was on track for a much stronger result but fell in the last 300 meters of the race and stumbled to the finish. Novak, in her first meet since Aug. 30, returned to action with a 47th-place finish in a time of 22:09, while McCalley was the third Lady Vol to finish as she took 94th with a time of 22:50. Southers was fourth in a time of 23:21 for 133rd, while Anderson was the last scorer with a time of 23:54 for 170th. Baird, in her first career 6K race, finished in 24:53 for 231st position, while Ayub did not complete the race due to injury.
Next on tap for the Orange and White was possibly the team's most important race of the year-the SEC Championships. Rothoff and his team were looking to improve upon an eighth-place finish in 2000 and seemed to have all the tools to do so with a solid No. 2 runner in Novak and a strong group behind her including McCalley, Southers and Anderson. The only question entering the meet at Auburn's Indian Pines Golf Course, though, was the team's experience and how the young runners would respond to the pressure of racing for a conference title.
The team answered that question for everyone, claiming second place for the team's highest finish since winning the conference meet in 1990. The efforts of three All-SEC runners helped the Tennessee cause tremendously. Dickie finished third for the second-straight season, recording a time of 19:36.29, while Novak was also in the top 10 with a time of 20:04.79, which was good for 10th overall. Southers, who narrowly missed all-conference honors as a freshman in 2000, worked her way into the top 15 with a 13th-place finish in a time of 20:17.86.
The key to UT's effort was the placing of its No. 4 and 5 runners. Baird turned in one of the grittiest performances of her career, logging a time of 20:39.24 to take 20th and give the Lady Vols solid points in the team race. McCalley was close behind her in 25th with a time of 20:46.05 to put all five scorers in the top 25. The Lady Vols finished second behind five-time SEC champ Arkansas but had a victory for the team as the gap between the first and fifth UT runners was just one minute and 10 seconds. With all five scorers in the top 25, there were two UT entrants who did not score but provided valuable depth. Anderson finished 42nd with a clocking of 21:22.65, while Ayub bounced back from not finishing at Furman to take 71st with a time of 23:04.52.
With an outstanding finish at the SEC meet on their collective resume, the next step for the Lady Vols was to duplicate the feat with a top-two finish at the NCAA South Regional at the University of Alabama's Harry Pritchett Golf Course. The 6K race was originally scheduled for Birmingham, Ala., but problems with the course during the preview meet forced the event to be held at UA's course in Tuscaloosa for the second-straight season. The Crimson Tide's course, though, was not a UT favorite. The squad finished eighth at the SEC meet held there in 2000 while only entering three runners at the NCAA Regional later that year. Unfortunately, the bad luck in Tuscaloosa continued as the Lady Vols finished sixth in the field of 18 teams and did not earn one of the two automatic bids from the region for the NCAA Championships despite entering the meet with a ranking of third in the South Region Coaches' Poll.
While the team did not advance, Dickie put herself into position for NCAAs for the second straight season, finishing sixth with a time of 21:26.71. She was not able to defend her NCAA South Regional title from the season before, nor was she among the automatic qualifiers. She did, however, earn a national at-large bid during the week following the regional meet. Baird continued her stretch of gutsy outings as she was the second UT runner to cross the line when she finished 30th with a time of 22:31.55. The final three Tennessee scorers finished one after another with Anderson in 42nd (22:48.62), McCalley in 43rd (22:49.32) and Southers in 44th (22:50.89). Novak wound up a disappointing 60th in a time of 23:10.02 while suffering from injuries. Ayub rounded out the Tennessee finishers in 109th with a time of 25:17.69.
With the season done for the majority of the Tennessee runners, the campaign continued for one more meet for Dickie. The NCAA Championships were slated for Nov. 19 at the Furman Golf Course where the Lady Vols had competed earlier in the season. After earning All-America honors as a sophomore, Dickie finished 136th in her return trip with a time of 22:27.0. A season-long battle with stress fractures in her shins slowed Dickie during the race, and she never got into her rhythm.
The 2001 season might have ended just short of a team appearance in the NCAA Championships, but the season did mark a serious move in the right direction for the Lady Vols. A runner-up placing at the SEC Championships, coupled with a strong core of returning athletes, bodes well for Tennessee as it heads into the future "Full Steam Ahead."
