The Observer, October 13, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 7
Women conquer Division III race at All-Ohio Championship
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Winning the Division III title at the 2006 All-Ohio Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship at Ohio Wesleyan was not the only feat the women's team accomplished last Friday. The team finished third overall among all teams in all divisions, trailing only Division I schools Ohio University and Ohio State.
The Spartans, who have now won four consecutive races in Division III, finished a whopping 60 points ahead of their next competitor, Ohio Northern University. The impressive showing did not go unnoticed as they moved up three spots in the national rankings from 20 to 17.
As expected, coach Kathy Lanese was extremely pleased by her team's performance. When asked if this was the team's biggest win of the year so far, she said "absolutely."
"It was the first race that we raced with all divisions," Lanese said, "and placing first in the state of Ohio is a good indicator of how we'll do in the region."
The top finishers for the Spartans were junior Esther Erb, second with a time of 18:42.3, sophomore Kristen Bowhers, third (18:57.7), and seniors Karyn Wheeler, seventh (19:26.3), and Stephanie Nothelle, eighth (19:27.5).
The close times between Wheeler and Nothelle came as no surprise.
"Our ability to work together as a team has really helped us lately," said Nothelle. "It is so much easier to make it through the pain of a race when you have someone beside you."
For Bowhers, having a close knit group to rely on reduces the pressure she feels when racing.
"I don't feel too much pressure on a team like ours because if I'm having a bad race, there's always someone to pick up the slack for me," she said. "I think I would feel more pressured if it was like, 'If you are having a bad day, you will let the whole team down.' It's not like that, though. Our team's too laid back for that sort of intensity, and our top seven is so closely packed that there's always someone to take over for me when I'm having a bad day."
Wheeler noted that, since she is a senior, a streak like this has much more meaning as this is her last year running with the team.
"After being abroad last fall and not being able to run for a team, I realized how much I love cross country," she said. "It hit me that this is my last chance to run competitively and that I have to make the best of my last year here. I've had a goal of breaking 20 minutes for the last seven years, and I knew I had to do it now. Accomplishing this and being a part of our team's success has made me more motivated to improve and has made me extremely proud to be able to run with the other amazing athletes on our team."
With the success the women have had, one would think there is a formula that no one would want to mess with. Bowhers feel one of the key aspects to this formula is their pre-run routine.
"I think that runners are some of the most superstitious people," Bowhers said. "If my pre-race routine gets messed up, I usually assume it means I'm going to have a bad race. For one, I always have to race in my lucky socks, I put my spikes on after my warm-up but before stretching, and I listen to "I'm Still Here" by John Rzeznick at least once before my race. Other than that, I try my best to keep negative thoughts out of mind and not psych myself out too much."
Although the success of the team has provided them with more confidence going into races, they have not let it get to their heads.
"It's awesome that we're doing so well, but I don't think we've let down our guard at all. We know there's still a long road ahead of us to nationals," said Erb.
The Spartans will look to continue their tear as they travel to Washington University for the 2006 UAA Championships on Oct. 28. The women will look to improve on their third place finish from last year, and try to upset Washington University, which is currently ranked third nationally, on its home turf.
Lanese indicated that finishing ahead of both Wash. U. and Emory will be a tough challenge, but that the Spartans have as good of a chance to win as anyone.
"We'd love to take the team title," she said. "Anything's possible, but of course we're going to go for the win."
