Owls Ready To Run At C-USA Championships
10/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 26, 2007
HOUSTON -- The Rice cross country teams head to El Paso this weekend for the 2007 Conference USA championships. The women are on the hunt for their second C-USA cross country title in three years. After taking second in 2005 and third in 2006, the men will vie for their first C-USA title and first league crown since taking their final Western Athletic Conference in 2004.
On the women's side, the No. 16 Owls have won four of five meets this season, including the Notre Dame Invitational. They return all three of their top-10 finishers from last year's championship meet in which they finished second by a single point. Setting the pace again this year is senior Marissa Daniels (Pearland HS) who placed second at the meet a year ago. She has a pair of first-place finishes along with a seventh-place showing at Notre Dame and a 17th-place showing at Pre Nationals.
Also returning for Rice is 2006 C-USA freshman of the year Nicole Mericle (John Cooper HS) and second-team all-conference honoree Lennie Waite (Austin, Texas). Senior Callie Wells (The Woodlands HS) and sophomore Britany Williams (San Antonio, Texas) also scored for the Owls at the 2006 championships.
Vying for this year's freshman of the year award are Allison Pye (Cy Creek HS) and Becky Wade (Dallas, Texas). Both newcomers have scored in every meet this year. Pye took second at the Rice Invitational and third at Texas A&M then finished 16th at Notre Dame and 33rd at Pre Nationals.. Wade has a pair of top 10 finishes under her belt, along with top 50 finishes at Notre Dame and Pre Nationals.
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The men face first on Saturday, starting at 11:30 am (CDT), followed by the women at 12:30 pm.
Players Mentioned
