1999 TCU Cross Country Team Notes and Statistics
11/11/1999 12:00:00 AM | General
The TCU men's and women's cross country teams compete against schools from throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana Saturday morning at the 1999 NCAA South Central Region Championships to be held at Eagle Point Golf Course in Denton, Texas.
TCU enters the competition two weeks after posting excellent performances at the Western Athletic Conference Championships. In that meet, the TCU women notched the highest team finish ever by a TCU women's cross country program at a conference meet with a second-place showing. The men's team finished a strong fourth while getting personal best performances from every runner.
The competition begins at 9 a.m. with the 10,000-meter mens race followed at 10 a.m. by the women's 5,000-meter competition. Teams will participate with the goal of earning a spot in the NCAA Championships to be held Nov. 22 at Bloomington, Indiana. The qualifying procedure for NCAA Championships is as follows: the top two teams plus the next four runners not on one of the two qualifying teams will advance to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Additionally, 13 at-large team berths will be distributed on Monday, Nov. 15, by a selection committee.
"We're hopeful of a strong performance after the WAC Championships," said TCU assistant coach Dan Waters. "We've had excellent workouts and its a chance for us to show how well weve progressed as a program. We feel confident that we can qualify some individuals - especially David Lagat, Glady's Keitany and Katie Singleton - but we have an outside shot of earning a high team finish in both divisions."
Schools competing at the meet (Men & Women unless otherwise noted):
Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, LSU, Louisiana-Monroe, McNeese State, Nicholls State (m), Northwestern State, Rice, Sam Houston State, SMU, Southwest Texas State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M, TCU, Tulane, Texas-Arlington, Texas, Texas-San Antonio (w), Texas-Pan American, University of North Texas. Schools with individuals participating will be Lamar (m), Texas-San Antonio (m) and New Orleans (w).
WOMEN'S OUTLOOK
Virtually every forecast has the field competing for second place behind national powerhouse Arkansas, which has raced to the regional title seven of the last eight meets. The Lady Razorbacks bring the second-ranked team in the country to the meet. For the third consecutive year, Amy Yoder is the individual favorite after winning her third straight SEC title to lead Arkansas to its seventh overall conference championship. Texas and Baylor are forecast to contend with Arkansas, while TCU and Rice lead a host of schools picked to battle for a finish near the top of the standings.
Individually, Yoders stiffest competition could come from teammates Larissa Kleinmann, Jessica Dalley, Tracey Robertson or Kim Welsh. Elsewhere, Baylors Karin Ernstrom, Sita Waru of McNeese are expected to join TCU's Glady's Keitany, the second-place finisher in the WAC, TCU teammate Katie Singleton and Tulanes Hanne Lynstad as contenders.
MEN'S OUTLOOK
The men's team enters the event seen by many as a darkhorse contender for a top-five finish, but top-ranked Arkansas is the overwhelming favorite to take the team championship. The Razorbacks will going after their 21st team title in the 23 years the event has been held. Arkansas also looks to successfully defend its title for the ninth consecutive year.
TCU senior David Lagat figures to be in the mix for the individual title. Lagat, who placed second at the WAC Championships, has won four of his six races this fall. Arkansas' Michael Power, who led the Razorback men to their ninth consecutive SEC championship by winning his second straight individual title, figures to battle Andrew Begley and James Karanu for individual honors. Other contenders will be Rice's Lachlan McArthur and Tyson Hendricksen, along with SMU's Clyde Colenso, the WAC champion.
Last Year At The NCAA South Central Region Championships, Nov. 14, 1998, Denton, Texas
Glady's Keitany and David Lagat earned individual berths for TCU in the NCAA Championships while the University of Arkansas took both team titles, advancing to the NCAA meet as a team along with womens runner-up Baylor and mens runner-up Tulane. Arkansas was particularly dominant in the mens race as the Razorbacks had all five scoring runners place in the top 10, including a sweep of the first three spots. Arkansas was led by individual champion Michael Power, who traversed the 10,000-meter course at Denton, Texas, in 30 minutes, 59 seconds.
Keitany's third-place finish, behind Arkansas teammates Amy Yoder and Jessica Koch, led the Horned Frog women to a surprising fourth-place team standing behind a trio of nationally respected programs - Arkansas, Baylor and Texas. The Horned Frogs also compiled one of the finest men's performances in school history as Lagat's ninth-place finish enabled TCU to earn fifth place in the team standings.
The performances by TCU's Kenyan runners were bolstered by some excellent outings by their teammates. On the women's side, Keitany led a trio of TCU runners in the top 25 of the individual standings by running a time of 17:28 over the 5,000-meter course. Robin Schacht completed her impressive late-season surge with a 15th-place finish while freshman Katie Singleton joined her teammates as all-district performers with a 25th-place finish.
Lagat, who has led the men's team for much of his career at TCU, was joined by junior Adrian Martinez in earning all-district kudos.
Martinez's 25th place run was instrumental in the Horned Frogs' surprising fifth-place team finish. TCUs mens standing also placed the Frogs in an elite group of teams as Arkansas, Tulane, SMU and Texas finished ahead of them.
Women's Team Scores
1. Arkansas, 43;
2. Baylor, 69;
3. Texas, 87; 4. TCU, 156; tie-5. Rice, 174; tie-5. Texas A&M, 174; 7. McNeese State, 200; 8. Houston, 225; 9. LSU, 229; 10. Stephen F. Austin State, 232; 11. Texas-Arlington, 278; 12. Sam Houston State, 305; 13. North Texas, 315; 14. Southwest Texas State, 334; 15. Northwestern State, 375; 16. Texas-Pan American, 403.
Womens Individual Results (5,000 meters)
1. Amy Yoder, Arkansas. 17:10; 2. Jessica Koch, Arkansas, 17:15; 3. Gladys Keitany, TCU, 17:28; 4. Karin Ernstrom, Baylor, 17:29; 5. Sherri Smith, Baylor, 17:30; 6. Tracy Robertson, Arkansas, 17:32; 7. Hanne Lyngstad, Tulane, 17:41; 8. Erin Brand, Rice, 17:49; 9. Sarah Salmon, McNeese State, 17:55; 10. Karen Bockel, Arkansas, 18:00.
Other TCU competitors: 15. Robin Schacht, 18:08; 25. Katie Singleton, 18:26; 57. Georgeanne Biancardi, 19:14; 69. Alison Harvey, 19:31; 92. Ashley Boothe, 20:36; 102. Heidi Francen, 20:59.
Men's Team Scores
1. Arkansas, 21; 2. Tulane, 105; 3. SMU, 114; 4. Texas, 134; 5. TCU, 173; 6. Rice, 214; 7. North Texas, 216; 8. Texas A&M, 230; 9. McNeese State, 252; 10. LSU, 276; 11. Texas-San Antonio, 280; 12. Southwest Texas State, 313; 13. Stephen F. Austin, 325; 14. Arkansas-Little Rock, 344; 15. Houston, 364; 16. Sam Houston State, 383; 17. Texas-Arlington, 398; 18. Baylor, 412; 19. Texas-Pan American, 531; 20. Northwestern State, 548.
Men's Individual Results (10,000 meters)
1. Michael Power, Arkansas, 30:59; 2. Andrew Begley, Arkansas, 30:59; 3. Sean Kaley, Arkansas, 31:03; 4. Amos Kipyegon, Tulane, 31:18; 5. Clyde Colenso, SMU, 31:27; 6. Ephraim Mokgokhu, SMU, 31:28; 7. Eric Zack, Arkansas, 31:32; 8. Murray Link, Arkansas, 31:35; 9. David Lagat, TCU, 31:36; 10. Henrik Skoog, Texas-Arlington, 31:54.
Other TCU competitors: 25. Adrian Martinez, 32:56; 37. Dan Shaw, 33:20; 46. Ryan Womack, 33:40; 56. Jason Kennedy, 33:57; 92. Partick Belmont, 35:01; 105. Jared Pope, 35:24.
1999 TCU Men's Cross Country Roster
Name Year Exp. Hometown Patrick Belmont Sr. 2L Chesterfield, Missouri Stephen Goff Fr. RS Kingwood, Texas Stuart Harrison So. 1L Roswell, Georgia Adam Helm Jr. TR North Richland Hills, Texas David Lagat Sr. 3L Eldoret, Kenya Adrian Martinez Sr. 3L McKinney, Texas Justin Pillsbury Fr. HS Tyler, Texas Jared Pope Sr. 3L Granbury, Texas Justin Speer Fr. HS Richmond, Texas Ryan Womack Jr. 2L Orange, Texas1999 TCU Women's Cross Country Roster
Name Year Exp. Hometown Georgeanne Biancardi So. 1L Kingwood, Texas Heidi Francen Sr. 3L Grapevine, Texas Alison Harvey Sr. 3L Fort Worth, Texas Gladys Keitany So. 1L Iten, Kenya Shannon McKinney Fr. HS McKinney, Texas Melody Raffloer Fr. HS Houston, Texas Robin Schacht So. 1L Irving, Texas Katie Singleton So. 1L Rolla, Missouri
Coaching Staff
Monte Stratton, Fifth Year Abilene Christian, 1969
Sam Hume, First Year Southern Colorado, 1988
Cinnamon Sheffield, Sixth Year Louisiana State, 1992
Dan Waters, Fourth Year Kansas, 1995
