University of Tennessee Athletics
Bowman Cruises To Victory At Tennessee Invitational
September 14, 2007 | Women's Cross Country
Tennessee Invitational Results
MARYVILLE, Tenn. -- The remnants of Hurricane Humberto subsided enough Friday evening to allow Lady Vol junior Sarah Bowman to win her second consecutive cross country meet this season and claim victory for the second time in three years at the Tennessee Invitational at Lambert Acres Golf Club.?? Unfortunately for Bowman and UT, though, the result will not count because there was no other complete team in the field.
The meet was supposed to have been a three-team competition, but Bryan College pulled out late in the week and East Tennessee State showed up at the starting line with only four runners rather than the required five.?? Therefore, with Tennessee as the only full squad competing, the event did not meet the necessary criteria to count as an official competition.
???We ran seven athletes and there was one unattached competitor and four from the other team,??? Clark said.?? ???Of course you always want to have a team score, but I can???t worry about that.?? We have to go ahead and move forward with the rest of the season.???
Still, Bowman, a junior from Warrenton Va., covered the rain-soaked 5,000-meter course in a would-be career-best 17 minutes, 36.66 seconds to finish first in a small field of 12 runners.?? Her time, though unofficial, would have been the ninth-fastest ever recorded on the 5K trail at Lambert Acres and ranked number-two all-time among UT runners, trailing only Brooke Novak???s 17:16.96 effort of 2004.?? Bowman also would have joined former Big Orange star Sharon Dickie (2000, 2002) as the only two-time winners in meet history.
After racing to the title at the 4K Belmont Opener two weekends ago, Bowman came back to post what would have been her fourth career victory Friday.?? In doing that, she repeated the opening of her rookie season at UT, when she also won at the same two meets.?? Her time was an improvement over the 17:50 clocking she recorded in taking fifth at this meet in 2006.
???I thought Sarah looked very lively,??? UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said.?? ???It looked like it was an easy run for her. That was good to see.???
Sophomore Jackie Areson (Delray Beach, Fla.) and junior Katie Van Horn (Glendora, N.J.) also responded with unofficial PRs on the humid, 74-degree day.?? Areson finished second in 18:02.66, while Van Horn was third in 18:20.01.?? The duo ran with their teammate through the one-mile mark, but Bowman began to pull away shortly afterward and ran the last 1 1/2 miles on her own.
The remainder of UT???s finishers included freshman Brittany Sheffey (Bellport, N.Y.) in fourth at 19:10.31, sophomore Phoebe Wright (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) in fifth at 19:18.83, junior Rolanda Bell (Laurelton, N.Y.) in sixth at 19:53.01 and junior Kimarra McDonald (Lumberton, N.J.) in eighth at 20:11.02.?? Former Lady Vol swimmer Bethany Hall, running unattached, was seventh at 19:59.19.
???We have to tighten up,??? Clark said of the spread of his team???s runners. ???We didn???t have the zeal I was anticipating.?? It is very, very early in the season, and I usually don???t focus a lot on these early meets.?? In my mind, our season starts at Paul Short (Sept. 28).
???Hopefully we???ll have Heidi (Magill-Dahl) inserted into the lineup by then and maybe Leah Soro.?? Right now, though, we have to focus on our sharpness, get in shape and we???ll go from there.???
The Buccaneers??? top finisher was sophomore Vickie Currie, who placed ninth in 20:11.65.?? Rookie twins Tesha and Terra Haggard of Morristown placed 10th and 11th in 20:51.73 and 20:53.61, respectively.
The Lady Vols are expected to return to action on Sept. 28, when they travel to Bethlehem, Pa., to compete in the Paul Short Run.?? UT???s first 6,000-meter race of the season is slated to start at 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time.
Women???s Agate
1. Sarah Bowman (UT) 17:36.66, 2. Jackie Areson (UT) 18:02.66, 3. Katie Van Horn (UT) 18:20.01, 4. Brittany Sheffey (UT) 19:10.31, 5. Phoebe Wright (UT) 19:18.83, 6. Rolanda Bell (UT) 19:53.01, 7. Bethany Hall (Unattached) 19:59.19, 8. Kimarra McDonald (UT) 20:11.02, 9. Vicki Currie (ETSU) 20:11.65, 10. Tesha Haggard (ETSU) 20:51.73, 11. Terra Haggard (ETSU) 20:53.61, 12. Christina Zink (ETSU) 23:05.77
