the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Vasser, Anthony After winning the 2008 C-USA Indoor Championships, the women's track and field team has another trophy to add to its collection. While only two Owls placed first - senior Rachel Greff in the pole vault and sophomore Sarah Lyons in the 400 - Rice earned 15 top-three finishes to amass 133.5 points.

Even though track and field is not always recognized as a conventional team sport, the members of the women's track and field team were anything but individualistic in defending their league title two weeks ago at the Conference USA Indoor Championships. Despite placing first in only two events, Rice used 15 top-three finishes to pull out a nearly twenty-point rout to best second -lace University of Texas-El Paso 133.5-114.5 at University of Houston's Yeoman Field House.

The Owls will get a chance to rest this week - none of the members earned a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships. However, more Owls were on the provisional list than in previous years: Senior distance runners Callie Wells and Lennie Waite, senior pole vaulter Rachel Greff, senior sprinter Desarie Walwyn and sophomore Sarah Lyons all posted provisional qualifying times during the season.

Although the win was largely a team effort, Lyons and Greff were the only two Owls to make it to the top of the podium. Lyons nabbed first place in the 400 with a time of 54.55 seconds while Greff cleared the pole vault at a height of 13 feet, 4.25 inches. Greff broke a school record - both Beth Hinshaw (Wiess '04) and Ally Daum (Will Rice '04) had jumped 13-3.5 - and a meet record while still recovering from flu-like symptoms: It was one of the Owls' gutsier performances of the day.

With the boost from the first-place finishes, the rest of the squad performed well enough to garner important points. The 3000 reflected the overall pattern of Rice's team win: The best individual time was Wells' 9:45.00, good for third place. However, the Owls swept third through seventh place, gaining 20 points from the single race.

Head coach Jim Bevan, who was named C-USA Coach of the Year for the second time in a row, said the women not only took his pre-race advice to heart, but also knew what it took to grab the win.

Continued...

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