University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Runners Race for SEC XC Championship
October 25, 2007 | Women's Cross Country
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Instead of a run for the roses, it will be a race for the hardware on Saturday morning, as the University of Tennessee women join 11 other teams in a fight for the 2007 Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championship trophy.?? Race time is 11 a.m. Eastern Time at the Kentucky Horse Park Steeplechase Course in Lexington.
For the Big Orange, it will be a return to the city where they won their first SEC Cross Country Championship, in the league???s initial meet for women, back in 1983.?? Since that time, the Lady Vols have won four more titles, coming in 1990 and from 2003 to 2005.?? After finishing third a year ago behind league champion Arkansas and runner-up Georgia, this year???s UT squad has embraced the difficult challenge of returning to the top of the conference heap.
The 2007 season has not been an easy journey, though, for head coach J.J. Clark???s sixth squad, as it has ground out a 78-15 record in four competitions with a limited number of runners.?? Due to the losses of last year???s seniors, all-stars Katie Flaute and Felicia Guliford, and a pair of 2006 freshmen in Rose-Anne Galligan and Kelly Parrish, filling the void of that missing talent has been difficult.?? In addition to that, Clark has had to send out a line-up that doesn???t include another pair of gifted runners in 2005 All-SEC performer Leah Soro (Knoxville, Tenn.) and BYU transfer Heidi Magill-Dahl (Orem, Utah), a two-time all-league and all-region performer for the Cougars in 2004 and 2005.
???We???ve had a rough road getting to this point, but I feel, all in all, we???ve moved forward,??? Clark said. ???We???ve seen Sarah (Bowman), Katie (Van Horn) and Jackie (Areson) run some solid races, especially last weekend at Penn State.?? We have to find a way to put a few more people up there with that group, and we???ll be fine.???
???We???ve had some issues with Rolanda (Bell) and Brittany (Sheffey), and we???re just looking for them to put their best race together at the appropriate moment,??? Clark said. ???Also, we???re continuing to try and move forward in getting Heidi ready to run.?? We haven???t been successful in doing that the last several meets, but we are working toward that. We???ll be prepared to run with or without her.???
In any case, Bowman???s track record this season suggests Clark can count on the junior from Warrenton, Va., to set the tone for the team in orange.?? The two-time All-SEC performer, who finished seventh at the league meet last season and sixth as a freshman, has been UT???s top performer in all four races this year and in six of the last seven, dating back to the 2006 SEC Championships.?? A two-time SEC Cross Country Athlete of the Week this season, Bowman won the Belmont Opener, finished second and was the top collegiate runner at the Bulldog Stampede, and charted ninth- and fifth-place efforts at the Brooks Paul Short Run and the Penn State National Invitational in her last two outings.
At the Penn State meet, Areson a sophomore from Delray Beach, Fla., and Van Horn, a junior from Glendora, N.J., joined forces with Bowman to give UT a solid top three.?? Areson was 13th in her best showing of the campaign and was among the Lady Vols??? scoring five for the 10th time in as many races in her career.?? Van Horn, meanwhile, was 17th and charted her sixth consecutive top-three scoring effort on the team.?? The duo finished 15th and 16th, respectively, at the league meet a year ago.
Sheffey, a freshman from Bellport, N.Y., and Bell, a junior from Laurelton, N.Y., were mentioned by Clark as having had issues this season.?? Both had their shoestrings come untied at the Penn State meet, and neither turned in the kinds of performances of which they are capable.?? Sophomore Phoebe Wright (Signal Mountain, Tenn.), who earlier in the season jockeyed with Sheffey and Bell for the fifth scoring position, is another potential contributor. The trio???s ability to answer the call in Lexington will be key to Tennessee???s fortunes.
???Our team is looking good and our spirits are good,??? Clark said.?? ???We always come into the SEC meet to do the best we can, regardless of the situation.?? The key is not getting frustrated and not going out there and getting too emotional.?? We want to make sure everyone has a good distribution over the 6K distance.
???It???s not a mile, an 800 or anything like that.?? They have to concentrate over time, and I believe we???ll be very successful in doing that.???
??
