The lady Buffs have much to smile about considering they have
achieved the highest ever ranking for a Milligan cross country team and have
maintained it for three weeks in a row.
Photo by Jennie Kodak
Yonatan Binyam
Staff Writer
September 28, 2007
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The lady Buffs have much to smile about considering they have
achieved the highest ever ranking for a Milligan cross country team and have
maintained it for three weeks in a row.
Photo by Jennie Kodak |
The Milligan College Lady Buffs cross country team is ranked second for the second straight week, trailing Canada's Simon Fraser University and tied with Asuza Pacific University in California, in a close race for the top spot, according to the national poll released by NAIA on Wednesday.
“It’s exciting for all of us,” Head Coach Chris Layne said. “[Our ranking] has challenged us all to work that much harder — the harder you work, the bigger the reward.”
Currently, the Lady Buffs trail with a score of 195 points to Simon Fraser’s 208 points. The points are based on votes from an NAIA panel of judges who base their decisions on individual as well as team performances. Normally, seven women run in a race and a total team score from the top five finishers is taken along with individual scores.
The Lady Buffs, who finished last season in eighth place nationally, say their goals for this year include running their best individual times and placing in the top three at nationals.
“It is a good motivation to stay focused and train harder than usual,” senior Erika Fox, top ten finisher in the marathon at the outdoor track and field championships last year, said.
On an average week, the Lady Buffs run about 55 miles. Some
days are intense, filled with two-a-days or 13-mile runs, while others are
geared toward building speed and somewhat relaxed runs. The women are training
for four more meets, one of which is the regional tournament.
Regionals this year will be held at Sycamore Shoals in Elizabethton. Then the ladies will travel to Kenosha, Wis. for the NAIA National Tournament on Nov. 17.
“We are more focused on the championships than on meets,” junior Co-Captain Jacklyn Talbert said. “As long as we get to nationals and give it our best shot, no matter what, we will be happy.”
Coach Layne also said the women do outside work to prepare for meets.
“They do a great deal of work away from practice to make sure they’re physically prepared to handle the training and racing,” said Layne.
In addition to Fox, the team also has three returning All-Americans from the 2006-2007 track season: senior MacKenzie LaBonte, junior Jacklyn Talbert and sophomore Rebecca McDowell. Layne expects them all to do well.