The women’s cross country team travels to DeKalb, Illinois to run in the Huskie Open hosted by Northern Illinois. The NIU Cross Country Facility is the same course that will host the NCAA Midwest Regionals in November. The women’s team will get a first hand look at the course while the men will only hear about it second hand.
Last weekend, both teams ran at the Creighton/UNO Classic. Both teams finished fourth, the men fourth out of four teams, the women fourth out of five teams. The men were lead by junior Mike Hitt. He finished 10th with a time of 28:38.
For the women, they were lead by two freshmen. Megan Barry finished 11th in 20:15 and Courtney Sawle finished 15th in 20:28.
Before the women run on Saturday, Coach Chas Davis took time to answer a few questions.
White & Blue Review: What are your thoughts on the meet last weekend?
Chas Davis: It was September 3 on Chili Greens. This means that we got some mixed results on a very slow course but saw a lot of potential at a meet we take as a “rust buster.” We held five men out of the race because of some slight aches and pains that kept them from being ready to race, including two of our likely top threats this year. We are planning on having everyone in there at Woody Greeno next week and will be a completely different men’s team. On the women’s side, we had some freshmen that forgot they were just freshmen and raced. It was very encouraging to see. Overall I was impressed with our women and how they approached what was either their first 5k and/or first race back.
WBR: Freshmen Megan Barry and Courtney Sawle were the top two finishers on the women’s side. How have they progress since the start of practice?
CD: You can see Barry and Sawle gaining more confidence by the day without putting too much pressure on themselves. Just enjoying the process right now. Exactly what we love seeing out of them.
WBR: The NIU Cross Country Facility will be where the two teams run the NCAA Midwest Regionals. This race is 5K compared to the 6K the women will run at Regionals. What can they take away from the meet nearly two months before Regionals?
CD: I want them to get one more low key 5k under their belt before seeing 300 other women on the line in Lincoln. Also, seeing the course (for both us and our women) will help us be more confident going into a big race as our season concludes on the same course. I wouldn’t be surprised if that familiarity allows them to split the 5k (of the 6k) at Regionals faster than they race the 5k this Saturday.
WBR: With the weekend off from competition, what is the men’s team doing this weekend?
CD: The men are heading to Lincoln with Assistant Coach Pohren to do a workout on next week’s race course.
WBR: Chris Culhane and Casey Jergenson did not run last week? How do things look for them to run next weekend?
CD: Very good. We’ve had them back in regular runs after some initial safety precautions with their health and have looked like they didn’t miss a beat in practice this week. We’ll continue to be careful & make the call next week if all is still on track. We can’t wait to get a couple of our main weapons back out there to let others know what kind of team we’ll have this year.
After this weekend’s meet, the Jays will run in Lincoln at the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational at Pioneer Park on September 17.
