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X-country still developing
While the men are struggling to get healthy, the women are showing promise.
By Jay Corn
Published:
Thursday, September 18, 2003
A rare phenomenon has descended on the women's cross country team this year. "Halo", the hit video game for Microsoft's Xbox, has sunk its addictive venom into a good portion of the girls XC squad, providing hours of gory entertainment for a majority of the female runners.
"It's really kind of random, but it's become almost part of the team culture this year," said sophomore Becky Anderson. "Most of the girls have gotten hooked, and while some girls on the team think it's sort of dumb, playing this silly video game has also brought us together as a unit."
Whatever the source of the team's chemistry, it is evident in their results so far this season that the women are contenders and not pretenders.
This past weekend, the women's XC team finished seventh in a field of 12 at the annual Lester Park Cross Country Invitational held in Duluth. Senior Amy Dumbrowski finished with a team-best time of 20:55 with Senior Amy Petsch finishing close behind with a time of 20:58. Despite their mediocre finish, all signs point upward for the women runners.
"As far as the women's competition goes, there really are a number of excellent programs to contend with, including the Universities of North and South Dakota, who always seem to bring awesome talent to meets," said fifth-year head coach Seth Mischke.
The team is getting set to travel to Grand Forks, N.D. Friday to compete in the Ron Pynn meet which is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
The season is still young. With only one-third of the scheduled meets behind them, the women Huskies have plenty of time to cement their spot in the ranking system, which for all purposes also serves as regional standings. Anchored by seniors Jenny Lanin and Jamie Petsch, the women's team has a good mix of young, fresh legs and experienced leadership.
The next few weeks are critical for determining the success of the current season, but Mischke holds no reservations about the team's promise and potential.
"The women's squad really shows signs that they can be serious contenders in this division, not just this year, but for years to come," he said. "The youth and energy that some of these younger girls have really excites me, and in upcoming years this program will really start to come into its own."
The men's XC team also will attend this weekend's meet in North Dakota, but have endured a rough road so far.
Hampered by a sore hamstring, the team's number one runner, Travis Hoover, sat out last week's meet in Duluth, and is questionable for this week's competition. He has been rehabbing with teammate Nick Hirsh, and Mischke hopes he'll be ready to go by Friday. This without a doubt a building year for the men's squad, but if the team has one thing, it's youth. The team is deep with young, albeit inexperienced, runners who in the coming years will form a strong backbone for a potential divisional powerhouse.
Mischke is assisted by Joe Weyers, and together the tandem coaches both the women's and men's teams.
The program concentrates on both the learning process involved in understanding the art of running and in physical preparation for the runners in the off season. Both are keys to developing a contending program, and while there are no immediate plans to integrate video games into the off season regiment, all involved are excited about the remainder of this season and look forward to a stretch run that will culminate with the NCAA finals Nov. 22.
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