University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
From The Cross Country Trail
10/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
From The Cross Country Trail
This is it! This is what we have been working so hard towards all season. This is the week of the Conference USA Cross Country Championships.
We have put in countless hours of running in sweltering heat as well as the blistering cold all for this weekend in North Carolina. I know that the hard work of this dedicated team will pay off during our first 6K race.
Our practice schedule was very light this week because Coach Reif wanted to be sure that we were fully rested and injury-free for the weekend. This was the first week since school started that we did not have to run at six in the morning. I sure enjoyed that sleep!!! We did some light sprint and interval work Monday afternoon, and the rest of the week we did 25-30 minute
jogs.
Wednesday night Coach Reif cooked a spaghetti and lasanga dinner for the team. We met at her house at 6:30 to eat and hang out. Not only was the food great but we had a good time too!
We left the coliseum parking lot at about 6:30 Thursday night. We traveled to Mobile where we spent the night. Friday morning we left the hotel at 4:30 to go to the airport. We flew from Mobile to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to Raleigh-Durham, NC. It was my first time to fly, so I was a little nervous, but everything turned out fine.
When we got to Raleigh-Durham, we had to rent vans and drive another two hours or so to Greenville, NC, where the meet was held. Once we got there we changed clothes and headed to the course. In 30 minutes we jogged the course that we would be running on the next day. After the workout, we went to the hotel, showered, and then went to the cross country banquet. All the teams were at the banquet. We ate and awards were presented to the athletes of the week. After the banquet we returned to the hotel, we went straight to bed, because we knew of the big day ahead of us.
The next morning we awoke about seven for our morning jog. After we jogged for about 15 minutes and stretched, we had a team meeting and then ate breakfast. Then we changed and it was off to the course!! After we warmed up, stretched, lined up on the starting line, and prayed, I looked around and saw the other 13 teams. The runners were just as excited and ready to start the race as we were. BANG!! the gun sounded and we were off!! Before I knew it, I was sprinting through the finish line. We finished 8th out of 14 teams in Conference USA. Our very own Janet Rono placed 5th and was named to the all-conference team. We had a great race and a great trip! I loved it!!!
Karen Tankersley
