The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women's Cross Country preview: ISU Pre-Nationals and Concordia University Invite
10.14.2010 | XC: Women_Old, Track & Field / Cross Country
Oct. 14, 2010
Meet Info
What: ISU Pre-Nationals
When: Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010
Race Time: 10 a.m. Central
Venue: Wabash Family Sports Center, Terre Haute, Ind.
Course Distance: 6K
What: Concordia University Invitational
When: Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010
Race Time: 8 a.m. Central
Venue: Cedar Park High School, Cedar Park, Texas
Course Distance: 5K
-After enjoying two consecutive perfect meets in Houston and San Antonio, the Longhorn Women's Cross Country team will split the squad this Saturday to run in the ISU Pre-Nationals Invite and the Concordia University Invitational. The 6K Pre-Nationals race is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Central at the Wabash Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind., the same course that will be used for the 2010 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The 5K Concordia meet is set for 8 a.m. CT and will be held at Cedar Park High School.
-In their last race, Texas occupied the top five spots and placed eight in the top ten en route to a perfect team score of 15 at the Ricardo Romo/Six Flags Texas Classic. Junior Mia Behm took home her second straight individual title in the race, crossing the finish line with a career-best 5K time of 17:10. Behm was followed by freshman Marielle Hall (second, 17:25), senior Allison Mendez (third, 17:35), freshman Megan Siebert (fourth, 17:40) and junior Julie Amthor (fifth, 17:44) to round out scoring for Texas.
-Running for the Longhorns at ISU Pre-Nationals will be seniors Allison Mendez and Christina Henderson, juniors Julie Amthor and Mia Behm, redshirt sophomore Laleh Mojtabaeezamani and freshmen Marielle Hall and Megan Siebert.
-Racing for Texas at Concordia will be senior Megan Vasquez, juniors Ginny Simon and Jordan Clark-Mand, sophomore Heather Canizales, redshirt freshman Katie Hoaldridge and freshman Sara Sutherland.
-Junior Mia Behm picked up her first career Big 12 Runner of the Week award after winning the Ricardo Romo/Six Flags Texas Classic. Behm picked up her second-straight individual title of the season in her career-best 5K mark of 17:10.
-The Longhorns have shown great early-season success under the guidance of fifth-year coach Steve Sisson, taking home the team title in the season-opening meet in each of the last six years. The Longhorns built off of that success in 2009, winning the first three meets the season. After tallying 16 points at the Texas State Invitational last year, the Longhorns followed up with totals of 28 and 15 points at the Islander Splash and Incarnate Word Invitational, respectively.
-UT hopes to capitalize on experience gained last season, including a strong showing at the NCAA South Central Region Championships where senior Betzy Jimenez and now junior Behm individually qualified for the 2009 NCAA Cross Championships. The pair marked the first Longhorns to advance to the national meet since 2003. Despite the loss of Jimenez, Texas returns Behm along with senior Mendez, who won two individual titles in 2009 and redshirt sophomore Mojtabaeezamani.
-Texas has also added an impressive freshman class to its roster that will look to make an impact in 2010, highlighted by Hall out of Haddonfield, N.J. Hall, who finished 18th at the 2009 Foot Locker XC Nationals, will be joined by a group of Texas runners in Siebert (Dallas, Texas), Sutherland (Dallas, Texas), Jessica Harper (Southlake, Texas) and Jourdan Ellis (Abilene, Texas).
-Up next, the Longhorns will travel to Stillwater, Okla., for the Big 12 Championships on Saturday, Oct. 30.