Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Head to Midwest Regional This Weekend
11/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country & Track
Nov. 13, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - All fall, Northwestern women's cross country coach Amy Tush has said that if five of her women put forth their best efforts on the same day, good things would be the result. Her intuition is not unfounded -- during the course of the fall many of the Wildcat women have had superb performances, but to this point those performances have been scattered over different meets.
Saturday would be a good time for the women to put it all together.
The Wildcats travel to Stillwater, Okla., this weekend for the Midwest Regional Championships. On the line? For the top two teams at the meet, an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in Waterloo, Iowa on Nov. 24.
Northwestern advanced to the NCAAs last year thanks to a second-place finish at this meet, and Tush is confident that lightning can strike twice.
"I think we are ready to run," she said. "As I told the women at practice, 'the hay is in the barn.' Everyone is on the same page at practice, now it is a matter of getting that transferred over to Saturday's race.
"I know the women will give it everything they have," she continued. "I compare this team to last year, and I know that we have just as much talent. It will take a great effort, no doubt, but if everyone comes out and runs hard we will have a result that pleases us."
One of the keys to a race of this magnitude, according to Tush, is making sure everyone is comfortable heading into Saturday.
"Different people approach races in different ways," she said. "Nora Colligan had a great race at Big Tens; what did she do to prepare for that? What did Emily Blakeslee do prior to Pre-Nationals? That is what we are monitoring and working off of.
"In the case of our seniors, this is potentially the last race they will run. They need to leave everything out on the course, and run the race with the attitude that they will have no regrets afterward."
The rankings provide a pretty good indication of who the favorites are to clinch the NCAA bids Saturday. Missouri enters the race ranked 20th nationally, while Nebraska fell out of the most recent poll after spending the entire fall in the Top 30.
"I think Missouri and Nebraska are the legitimate top two heading into this race," said Tush. "The other teams that I expect to be up there include some Big Ten teams -- Indiana, Minnesota and Illinois -- and also Southwest Missouri State. We need to be in among that pack to have a shot."
NU Runners Saturday
Emily Blakeslee, Sr.
Nora Colligan, Sr.
Kalysta Harmon, So.
Diana Hossfeld, Jr.
Nicole Kalogeropoulos, Sr.
Mallory O'Niel, Fr.
Casey Shea, Fr.
