Northwestern University Athletics
Women's Cross Country To Race Friday at Notre Dame
10/4/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country & Track
Oct. 4, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - Head coach Amy Tush will head to Notre Dame Friday with a group of runners that does not include her usual leaders of the pack. That does not mean this race is any less important to her, though.
"The Notre Dame Invitational is a good opportunity for some of the women to compete who have not competed much this year," she said. "Some of our women don't get to race as much, and I wanted to give them this chance to run."
Despite the fact that she is bringing a 'B' group to South Bend, Tush still holds high expectations for her runners.
"The Notre Dame coach called and asked if I wanted to have my runners in the JV race, and I told him no way," she said. "This is a flat course, and our women should be able to get personal records and feel good about themselves. They should have a good race, and feel like they are involved in a good race."
While Tush is off with some of the younger runners, the lead pack will stay behind in Evanston. After competing at the Illinois Invitational and the intense Roy Griak Invitational each of the last two weekends, and with the Pre-National Meet coming up next weekend in Furman, S.C., Tush sees this weekend as a proper time for a break.
"The women will get a workout in Friday, but this weekend is a good time for them to take a break mentally as well as physically," she said. "We're into classes now, so this is a good chance for them to get caught up on work and stuff without the stress of traveling to a meet."
Another step in the resurgence of the cross country program took place during the week - for the first time since the program was brought back in 1998, Northwestern received a pair of votes and got on the list of the FinishLynx National Cross Country poll. However, that should only fuel the fire as far as Tush is concerned.
"We need to go down to Furman next weekend and make some more believers," she said.
