Lady Bluejays take second in KCAC
Men's cross country team fifth
in league meet season finale
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Two weeks ago, the Lady Bluejays cross country squad notched their first meet win of the season at Ottawa's Pomona Lake, tying the hosting Lady Braves.
That might be reason enough to think Tabor could better its finish in a return of the place of glory.
What could possibly spoil the Lady Bluejays' team grabbing a runner-up finish in the KCAC meet?
The fact that KCAC champ Kansas Wesleyan didn't have enough runners for a team score all year in every meet — until Saturday, that is.
The Lady Coyotes beat Tabor for the top spot, 58-71.
"Although we are happy with the runner-up position, we are also pretty disappointed," said Bluejay coach Karol Hunt. "The winners did not have a full team all season and picked up some individuals from another fall sport just for this meet.
"It takes away from what we have been working really hard for all season. It's disappointing to see the win at all costs philosophy creeping into our sport."
What didn't spoil the day for the women's team was a two-three finish for the Tabor duo of Heidi Schmidt and Angie Jost to lead three finishers in the top 10.
Schmidt's runner-up time of 21:27 was 10/100s of a second behind the Lady Coyotes' winning time.
Eight hundredths of second behind Schmidt was third place finisher Jost.
Amber Wiens took eighth out of 56 finishers with a 22:11 time.
Tiffany Stevens and Rebekah Lockhart's respective 25th and 35th place times of 23:35 and 24:30 also gave the Bluejays a boost.
"We ran this course two weeks ago in preparation for the conference meet and that helped us quite a bit," Hunt said. "Amber lowered her time by 14 seconds, Tiffany lowered hers by 12, Rebekah by 1:18. It takes all five for a strong team performance.
"Tiffany and Rebekah really stepped it up today. They both showed a lot of determination."
Two weeks earlier, the women tied Ottawa and finished two points ahead of Sterling while beating Friends by nine.
This time, Tabor beat Ottawa by four, Sterling by seven, and was 58 in front of Friends.
In 2003, the Lady Bluejays finished fifth.
Fresh off an injury, Anthony Bartlett posted the highest finish for the men's team that was fifth, taking 24th in 31:14.
The shorthanded men's team wrapped up the season Saturday, failing to advance any runners to regionals.
The Southwestern Moundbuilders' 17 points beat out runner-up Ottawa in a landslide by 52 points.
Currently the men's most consistent runner, Mike Norris, was 28th in 31:51.
Kevin Larson, Matt Lynam, and Jeff Anenson were 31st, 32nd, and 34th with respective times of 32:14, 32:17, and 32:24.
"The conference meet is our most important meet of the season because it's a benchmark of how we compare to the other KCAC teams," said Hunt.
"Unfortunately, the men were not able to advance this year. It was difficult to look over to the sidelines and see last year's number-one (Pete Richert) and -two (Kyle Larson) runners just standing there."
With no seniors on the team, the men should be a formidable team in 2005.
The women's team will travel Saturday to Lincoln, Neb., for the Region VI meet held at Pioneer's Park.
Race time is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m.
