Cross Country: Rice Men, Women Sweep WAC Championships
11/1/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Never before had the Owls won two conference team championships on the same day, but that was before Saturday.
The Rice men's team clinched its first cross country conference championship since 1928 when the Rice Institute tied for the Southwest Conference crown with Texas A&M.
The men were paced by junior Lachlan McArthur who finished the 8K course third overall in a time of 25:01, just five seconds behind TCU's David Lagat, who finished second in the individual competition. Clyde Colenso of SMU won the individual race finishing the course in 24:19.
Rice edged the Mustangs by 11 points (56 to 67) for the team championship mainly because the Owls had four of the top 13 finishers. The fourth SMU runner was the 21st runner to cross the finish line.
"This was the exact same team that finished ninth of 12 teams at last years championship," said Rice men's cross country coach Jon Warren, who was voted the WAC men's coach of the year. "It is a credit to them getting their act together over the summer and developing over a long period."
Following McArthur was juniors Tyson Hendricksen (sixth, 25:23) and John Jura (ninth, 25:40), senior Jeff Pipper (13th, 26:07) and sophomore Keith Pierce (25th, 26:37).
For the Rice women, it too was history.
The women's cross country team won the first-ever conference championship by a women's team at Rice in 1994 when it won the SWC title. Saturday's win was just the second-ever conference championship for a women's team at Rice and its first in the WAC.
Sophomore Katie Waite led the Owls to the team win Saturday as Shaquandra Roberson, who had been the top Rice finisher in each of her last three years, was trying to fight off the flu. Waite finished the 5K course in 18:17 to finish fifth. Roberson finished seventh eight seconds behind (18:25).
The Owls finished 13 points (50 to 63) better than second-place TCU. All five Owl runners finished ahead of the fourth-place runner from TCU. Tulsa's Fride Vullum took top individual honors finishing the course in 17:37.
"The biggest thing about today is that it was a true team performance," said Rice women's cross country coach Jim Bevan, who was selected the WAC women's coach of the year. "With Shaquandra feeling ill, this team rose up for the victory. It was an outstanding performance by this group and that is what is satisfying."
Behind Waite and Roberson was freshmen Tanya Wright (ninth, 18:33) and Summer Bell (13th, 18:45) and Liza Ruckman (16th, 18:55). Wright was named the WAC freshman of the year since she was the first freshman to cross the finish line.
Both teams return to the course Nov. 13 in Denton for the NCAA District VI Championships. The top two teams and top three individuals move on to the NCAA Championships Nov. 22 in Bloomington, Ind.