Change of Pace
How does winning a meet one weekend then placing seventh in another meet the next weekend count as an improvement? Well it does, and that is just what the Shepherd Cross-Country team did this past weekend.
The team traveled only a short distance to compete in the Mount Saint Mary's Invitational in Emmitsburg, MD. The girls collaborated with ten other schools, including some top-notch division I colleges and universities.
With 110 girls in the race, the Lady Rams racked up a score of 160 points to place them seventh just behind Mt. St. Mary's (148 points) and University of Maryland Baltimore County (146 points). Tying in the meet for first place team finish were Kutztown and Millersville, both with 60 points.
The course ended up being a change in pace for the girls, literally. After competing on such rugged courses as West Liberty State College and Davis & Elkins, the Mount course seemed like a pancake in comparison. With perfect cool, wet weather, the 5k flat course brought a change in pace for the girls. The times dropped tremendously and out of the whole race two finishers went under 19 minutes.
Having all personal best for the season, the girls finally ran a race that Coach Moe had been hoping for. How is a seventh place finish better than a first? It is in that the team only had 48 seconds between its second place finisher, Tiffany Moskel, and its fifth place finisher and final scorer, Rebecca Keeney. An even better step up for the Rams was that there was only 24 seconds between Jeanette Wilson, third place finisher for Shepherd, and Keeney. This is a definite improvement compared to the weeks prior when the gap spaced out over a minute worth of time. This is a stride worth shortening especially with high expectations in the conference meet in late October.
Liz Lowrie came in first for the Rams placing tenth individually. Moskel once again finished a solid second for the team placing 34th. Completing the scoring and also showing very fine performances for Shepherd College was Wilson placing 29th, Lisa Bailey placing 48th, and Keeney placing 57th. Both Marsha Soergel, who placed 69th, and Stephanie Brazell, who placed 109th, had concrete performances in which helped knock back scorers from other teams. Winning the invitational was Jen Ecker from UMBC with Megan Seefeldt from Kutztown in second. Ecker and Seefeldt were the only female runners to go under the 19-minute barrier on the Mount course. Hannah Benjamin from UMBC captured the third place individual title.
Happy with their performances at the Mount, the Ladies will put in another week of hard training and having another change of pace when they head off a long distance to North Carolina. The Shepherd team will be participating in the Greensboro Cross-Country Invitational on Saturday.
- Liz Lowrie