Published on Berryvikings.com on August 2005

Season Preview - Women's Running

            Depth and experience run deep on the 2005 women’s cross country team. With eight seniors leading the team of fifteen runners, Head Coach Paul Deaton is excited about the season. 

            The Lady Vikes are scheduled to run in six meets before the NAIA national meet on November 19, and also benefits from hosting two of those meets: the Southeast Classic and the NAIA Region XIII Championships. The home course not only gives the women more confidence, but also offers a fast course that should afford numerous personal records (PR).

            The duo of Laurie Cook and Doran Mabry lead the pack of seniors. During 2004, both runners had season best times of 19:35. Cook’s training sets her up to peak late in the season. Mabry approaches the 2005 season with more consistent training and better health than previous seasons.

            Seniors Tyler Moss, Melissa Forbes and Meghan Guilfoil will also be a strong force on the team. This will be Moss’ and Forbes’ second season running for the Lady Vikes. During 2004, Moss improved over the course of the season and dropped her time by 3:14 to a season best time of 20:56 at the regional meet. With a year of solid training to her credit, Forbes is capable of setting new personal records and improving her PR of 21:38. Guilfoil enters this season in good health after a challenging cross country season in 2004. She finished seventh place in the 5,000m at the Mississippi State Invitational last spring with a time of 20:48.  

            Seniors Skye Causey and Junior Lauren Moss will add experience and leadership to the team. This will be Moss’ final season for the Lady Vikes, as she will be graduating early. Causey and Moss will challenge each other throughout the year, after they finished at the 2004 region meet less than a second apart with times of 22:21 and 22:22 respectively.

            Newcomer Nicole Degner could help score for the Lady Vikes’ top five right away. She also has a long term goal of running in the NAIA national marathon in May 2006.

            The junior class of Becky Ament, Ashley Andereck and Eva Gordon will undoubtedly make a huge impact on the team’s top five runners. Ament finished 2004 with a season best time of 19:27, and would like to break 19:00 this year. Gordon logged fast workouts during the summer, and shows potential to beat her best time of 19:32 from last year.

The runner everyone seems to be excited about is Andereck. During her 2004 cross country season, Andereck ran 21:15 at the Disney Classic. She drastically cut time off her PR during track season with a 5,000 meter time of 19:58 at the Vanderbilt Invitational. After running over 714 miles during the summer, Andereck is set up to have her best season ever.

            Sophomores Katie Landry and Ashlea Hutchins approach the 2005 season with more experience and confidence. Landry finished the 2004 season with a PR of 21:09, and looks to improve this season after running a 5,000 meter time of 20:36 during the 2005 track season.  Hutchins will likely red shirt this season due to knee surgery in May 2005. However, with her steady recovery and strong  work ethic, it is possible that she will join the Lady Vikings at the Regional meet.

            Adding to the team’s depth, the freshmen class of Lynn Roney and Lindsay Hixon look to have a successful season of PR’s. Roney comes from Parkview High School. Her PR is 20:10, with the added intensity of college running and good health, she looks to set a new PR this season. Hixon joins the Lady Vikes from Lassiter High School. She joins the team coming off a minor injury, and looks to steadily improve throughout the season.

            The women finished the 2004 season with a 28th place finish at the national meet. The meet was more competitive in team scores than previous national meets; however, the Lady Vikings still would have liked to place higher. While the NAIA preseason rating placed the women just out of the top 25 ranked teams, if all votes were counted they would have placed 30th. Despite what the rankings may say, it is clear that the Lady Vikings have more depth and experience than ever before, and they could surprise many people at nationals this year.