Women's track earns three-peat
They say good things come in threes. That maxim rings true for the Rice women's track team as the Owls won their third consecutive Conference USA Indoor championship Feb. 27-28 at University of Houston's Yeoman Fieldhouse. Not only did Rice win the meet, but the Owls scored more points (148) than in the previous two championships, beating out Houston (108) and the University of Central Florida (86).
But most impressive of all, Rice was not guaranteed the win going in. Head coach Jim Bevan looked at the meet ahead of time but was still unsure of Rice's chances to win.
"On paper, UCF, Houston and us could all get enough points to win," Bevan said. "Going into it, I did expect it to be a three-way battle, but our young ladies stepped up."
Senior Lennie Waite led the Owls by winning the mile, 3000 meters and placing third in the 800. Her multiple efforts were enough to take the honor of highest overall scorer at the meet.
However, Waite was not the only Owl who contributed to Rice's win - not by a long shot. According to Bevan's estimations before the meet, Rice, Houston and UCF all had the talent to win the conference title. At the meet, Rice competitors across the board found a way to score with 19 out of Rice's 28 competitors earning points.
Additionally, several Owls performed better than their seeding dictated. Junior Britney Blodget began Rice's trend of overachievement by improving her score in the pentathlon, the first event of the meet, by 200 points. Her fifth-place finish gave Rice four points on the scoreboard to start the meet, even though she was not expected to score at all.
On Saturday, Rice placed in nearly every race of the day, with runners scoring in the mile, 60 meters, 60-meter hurdles, 200, 400, 800 and 3000. Behind Waite in the mile was junior Nicole Mericle in third, freshman Keltie John in fourth and junior Britany Williams in sixth. Junior Shakera Reece took fourth in the 60, while freshman Lucie Cincinnatis and sophomore Kimberly Stanford finished sixth and eighth in the 60 hurdles, respectively. Junior Sarah Lyons took sixth in the 400 and junior Britany Washington placed seventh, while John, Waite, freshman Sophie Peeters and junior Vicki Walker went 2-3-7-8 in the 800. In the 200, Reece placed third overall.
Bevan said he was especially impressed with Reece's performance.
"Shakera continues to perform at her highest level at championship meets," the coach said.
By the last race, the 3000, Rice had all but won the meet. However, Bevan noted that the runners in the 3000 are accustomed to running with the meet on the line, and they did not slow up one bit as Rice finished first through fourth: Waite, sophomore Allison Pye, Mericle and sophomore Becky Wade.
"The last few years, we've always been able to close the meet with one of our strongest events, the next to last event, the 3000," Bevan said. "They lined up and ran as though the meet were on the line. We finished 1-2-3-4, which really puts the nail in the coffin.This is the best group of distance runners I've ever had at Rice."
Off the track, sophomore Ari Ince competed in the pole vault even though she had not practiced in five days due to a knee injury. Although projected to win the event, Bevan was holding his breath until she cleared the bar at 3.77 meters. Freshman Cleona Oliver also placed in the pole vault, finishing right behind Ince at 3.67 m.
Rice also scored in the triple jump, with sophomore Sarah Agara and senior Jenny Glover finishing fourth and eighth, respectively.
In addition to Rice's win, Bevan was named Coach of the Year, although he believes his team's performance deserves the honor.
"It is more of a testament to the job the team did," Bevan said. "It's a reflection of how good a job the girls did competing to defend their title. It's an award that goes to everybody on the team."
While their classmates may have been relaxing on a beach or enjoying the slopes, a sampling of the track team competed again over spring break. Bevan decided to send the Distance Medley Relay squad - Waite, John, Peeters and Washington - to the Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational to try and earn national-qualifying times.
In addition, Mericle, Pye and Wade traveled to the Arkansas Last Chance meet for the same reason, although none posted times fast enough to continue competing.
At Notre Dame, the DMR had a strong opening 1200 leg from John, the fastest split in Rice history, at 3:23. However, a chaotic hand-off left Washington spending five seconds scrambling to recover the baton from where it had rolled off the track. Realizing his team would not earn a national qualifying time, Bevan pulled the team before Waite's final leg.
The next day, Waite wrote herself into the Rice record books after finishing fifth in the mile. Waite ran the mile in 4:39.61, the fastest time in Rice history, surpassing Pam Klassen's mark of 4:40 set in 1988. Her sixth-place finish was good enough to punch her ticket to the national competition this weekend at Texas A&M University.
Bevan attributed Waite's performance to her transition from a soccer player to a national-caliber, elite runner.
"She's matured to the point that she is an extremely competitive accomplished runner now," Bevan said. "Two years ago she struggled to break five minutes. Now she can run sub-five minutes for two miles continuously without a break."
Waite will be the sole Rice representative at the indoor meet, but not the only on the national-qualifying list. Six Rice competitors earned national recognition for their efforts. Ince got on the national list in the pole vault, and Waite and Mericle earned the honors in the 3000 and the mile. Wade and Pye also received spots in the 5000. Lastly, John earned a provisional qualifying time in the 800.
Bevan noted that qualifying for the national meet this year is extremely competitive.
"Lennie's mark would've been third in the nation two years ago," Bevan said. "This year she's going to go in 11th or 12th. Her mark in the 3000 is 15th and she would've been sixth two years ago. That tells you the country right now is the best it's ever been.
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