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Vanderbilt Women’s Cross Country Squad Continues To Impress 10/19/2003 Team Finishes Fifth in Important Chile Pepper Invitational Saturday
Fayetteville, Ark. – The Commodore women’s cross country squad narrowly missed defeating Southeastern Conference power Arkansas Saturday during a fifth-place overall finish in the Chile Pepper Invitational hosted by the Lady Razorbacks. Using solid performances by sophomore Erika Schneble, freshman Ashleigh Wetzel and freshman Debbie Huss, the Commodores finished with 160 points, fifth among 37 squads entered in the meet. It was the Commodores’ best finish at the Arkansas meet and comes on the heels of a superb team effort two weeks ago at the Notre Dame Invitational. For the first time in years, the squad headed by Coach Jim Spivey enters the important SEC Championships and NCAA Regional Championships in a potential contending role with Arkansas, Tennessee and possibly Kentucky. The SEC Championships will be held November 3 at Athens, Ga., the site of an earlier Commodore team victory this year. The NCAA Regionals, slated for Nov. 15, will be conducted on the Auburn campus. The Commodores’ best finish ever at the SEC Cross Country Championships is a fourth place effort in 1997. On Saturday, the youthful Commodores squared off with the Lady Razorbacks, a perennial power in the conference, for the first time this season. Paced by a 19th place overall finish by Schneble, the Commodores finished just seven points behind the Razorbacks in the team score. Nevada and Texas Tech finished one-two in the scoring with 114 and 122 points, respectively. Virginia Tech (155 points) finished between Arkansas and Vanderbilt. Schneble, NCAA regional qualifier last year, led the Commodores for the first time this season with a 21:38.95 finish. Wetzel and Debbie Huss finished just behind Schneble in 20th and 21st place with efforts of 21:40.71 and 21:41, respectively. Other Commodores to earn team points were sophomore Caitlin Shannon (55th, 22:26.29) and Jackie Wachsman (62th, 22:35.76). Also competing for Vanderbilt were junior Nadiyah Humber (22:54.54), freshman Lauren Pence (22:59.67) and senior Jocelyn Theriault (24.40.16). Despite narrowly losing to Arkansas, the Commodores did defeat three SEC squads in Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss. Results were not available for a second Commodore squad that competed Saturday in the UTC Invitational in Chattanooga. |
