SMC CROSS COUNTRY: Belles finish in No. 7 spot
By KATIE McVOY
Associate Sports Editor
Conditions were less than ideal for the Saint Mary's cross-country team as it ran in the MIAA Championships on Saturday. Course conditions were cold, wet and muddy and three of the Belles top seven runners were unable to compete.
A repeat of the MIAA Jamboree seventh place finish was a far cry from victory, but the team was pleased with its efforts to overcome the obstacles and finish the race.
"Considering we were missing three of our top seven [runners], I think we did really well," head coach David Barstis said. "I think we could have beat [sixth place finisher Adrian and fourth place finisher Alma] had it been a good day weather-wise and if we had our top seven. We were prepared."
Junior Jennie Buehler, sophomore Caitlin Gillen and freshman Kristen Zaininger were all unable to compete in the meet. Zaininger, who is normally the Belles second finisher, was being tested for mononucleosis, while Buehler, normally the Belles number six runner, was stuck in Kansas and unable to find a flight to return in time for the meet.
Gillen began the race, but was unable to finish due to the temperature shift between the sunny state of Texas, where she spent part of the week, and the cold conditions at Calvin College.
"[Gillen] came up from Texas and it was the temperature change that affected her," Barstis said. "She went from 80 degrees to 40 degrees and that kills just about everybody."
The weather on Saturday affected more runners than Gillen. The 40-degree temperature and muddy conditions slowed down the whole Belles' team.
"Had this been a dry course, I think everyone would have been about thirty seconds faster," Barstis said.
Although sophomore Jackie Bauters led the team again with another personal best, it was the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers that really stepped up in the race. Freshman Elizabeth Commers, junior Whitney Ross and sophomore Erin Thayer, who have not been consistent scorers for the Belles, finished in fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively.
"I wasn't expecting [placing]," Ross said. "I was just planning on running my best race."
Commers finished the race in 22:58, followed closely by Ross, who crossed the finish line 34 seconds later with a time of 23:32, grabbing 85th and 94th place respectively.
"I was just running to get a good time and get a good place for my last meet," Ross said. "For some reason during the race I was just feeling good, so I just kind of made my way up to where I'm not usually at, which is closer to the front for Saint Mary's."
Ross, who will be graduating early, believes Saturday's meet may be her last.
Bauters finished in 28th place with a personal best time of 20:23, which was good enough to land her on second team All-MIAA.
Freshman Amy Blue finished in second with a time of 21:18.
The Belles will have two weeks off to prepare for Regionals on Nov. 10 at Kalamazoo. Although final MIAA standings have already been decided, Barstis is looking for a complete, healthy team to find some satisfaction in defeating conference rivals who will also be running in the meet. The Belles finished only 29 points behind Adrian, points Barstis would like to make up with improved times.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, October 30, 2001
