The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Stewardson twins reveal goals for Women's Cross Country season
09.11.2006 | Track & Field / Cross Country w, Track & Field / Cross Country
Women's Cross Country seniors Landra and Lige Stewardson look to shed their quiet demeanor and pump up the volume in their final season of running in Austin. Facing their last year as a student-athlete, the twins from Detroit, Texas have set goals for themselves that fit into the team's distance plan.
Individually, the Stewardsons do not plan on stopping short of making the top 25 at the NCAA Regional Championships and earning CoSIDA Academic All-American honors, to represent a balance between competition and education. Add that to their plan to continually improve their contribution to the team's performance each season.
The sisters are on track to become Academic All-Americans. Stellar in the classroom, they both amazingly carry perfect 4.0 grade-point-averages and will graduate with the highest honors in kinesiology and are first team Academic Big 12 honorees.
"As a team, we have discussed our goals," said Lige. "Coach (Steve) Sisson wants (the team to place) in the top half of the Big 12 for sure, top 10 at (NCAA) Regionals and top 25 at nationals."
True to their words, the East Texas duo began the 2006 cross country season in fine fashion this past weekend, helping UT win the Texas State Invitational in San Marcos on Saturday. Landra burst to the finish line as the collegiate meet's top finisher with a time of 18:10 over the three-mile course while Lige was the fifth UT finisher to cross the finish line in a season-opening 8:55.
Landra explains that their finish last year "was not really acceptable for Texas standards, so we definitely are prepared to improve on that. I think it is possible this year."
In the last few years, a new runner would step into the top two or three positions in the lineup in each race. This year, the group wants to increase the number of top performances across the board, lowering the team point total and effectively raising the team finish. The Stewardsons also emphasized another key to success is getting everybody to have a good race on the same day.
In the past, when runners encountered a tough course or competition, Lige noted head coach Bev Kearney was always there with positive words.
"Pick out three things about the race," Lige said, recalling Kearney's words. "Two things you did well and one thing you could change. Don't go through and list 10 million things that went wrong with the race and that you should have adjusted. Just focus on what to improve on and you will be successful."
Those words have guided the Stewardsons to the top of a very competitive lineup and sparked a fire for competition this fall.
"Let's just put it this way - people will be very surprised at the team we're putting on the course this year," Lige remarked.
Part of the change has to do with new UT assistant coach Steve Sisson who has been hired to coach the distance area. Sisson is a former Longhorn All-American runner for UT who was hired full-time in September of 2006.
"[Sisson] really understands the cross country team dynamics," said Lige. "He knows how to adjust workouts so we don't overdo our training week-to-week."
As seniors, the Stewardsons have seen coaching changes, but they explain that running has to come from the individual; it has to be for himself or herself and not for anyone else.
"You see that we really want to be here," said Lige. "We want to win for the University of Texas."
As the Stewardsons have proved, running cross country is also all about the team. The sisters say that when they graduate this year, the team is what they will miss the most.
"It is something that you cannot get anywhere else," said a teary-eyed Lige, when asked about the camaraderie of the cross country and track and field group. "You can go do your individual road race, try to qualify for Olympic Trials, but you are never going to have that same team feeling again."
"I started running in high school because I did not want to have to depend on a team," continued Landra. "But when I came to college I stayed with it because of the team concept. We have a really phenomenal group of athletes."
The year must come to an end and new goals must be reached however both Landra and Lige volunteered at a high school cross country camp this past summer, which allowed them to realize where they want to go after graduation. The 4.0 GPA twins aspire to enter the field of education.
"I plan to teach and coach at the high school level and coach my own team to the state championship," forecasted Landra. "Shoot big!"
"My goal is to get into graduate school for exercise physiology," said Lige. "I would also like to coach at the collegiate level."
With each goal accomplished, another goal is added and you can be sure that Landra and Lige Stewardson are up for the challenge - they are scholar-athlete, cross country runners. It is what they do.
