| High hopes for ‘07 CC season |
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| Written by Tony Magnan | |
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The University of Missouri – Rolla’s cross country teams have finished for the season and are now lounging around eating potato chips like the rest of us. The season had plenty of highlights and left expectations through the roof for next year. The young runners for the men and women performed beyond Coach Sterling Martin’s wildest dreams, and hope to continue that for the rest of their eligibility. The men started the year strong finishing second at the Bob Timmons Invitational. They then won the UMR hosted Miner Invitational, and continued a promising year by taking third in the Loyola Lakefront International in lovely Chicago, IL. The Miners never finished below sixth until the last meet; including meets that saw over thirty teams compete. They regularly defeated Division I schools such as Drury, Kansas State, Oral Roberts, and UMKC (take that Don Denkinger). There were also several meets where they defeated all other Division II schools present. The team captain Joffroi “Crazy Legs” Holcombe set a great example for the rest of the team by leading the way for the Miners in all but one race. His leadership was evident not only on the course, but with his impeccable grasp of the strategy behind cross country. One of the teams’ biggest goals this year was to run more as a pack. This became a reality as the season progressed with the Miner’s improving their split from 1:10 to 37 seconds. Freshmen Andrew Ropp showed that the jump from high school to college does not have to be a difficult one, by finishing for points in four of the seven races in which he participated. Holcombe will be back next season, but with senior Gary Black running his last race last week, Ropp should be a big player come 2007. The women also started the year hot and seemed to run out of steam toward the end of the season. Their highest finish was at the Miner invitational where they finished 2nd. The ladies regularly competed against Division I powerhouses, and refused to be intimidated. They held their own, and like the men ran as a pack, they fed off each other’s confidence. Earlier in the season, Coach Martin said that this is the “best team he has had here,” which should be a big boost for the young ladies who will be back in 2007. Freshmen Silvey Britton and Kierra Handley helped shoulder the load for the Miners by finishing in the top five in six of the seven competitions. Not only that, but the two young dynamos won four of those races. They will be counted on to continue that success next season when seniors Laura Ruf, Wendy Moore, and Kylee Hyzer are no longer with the team. The three of them were the primary point scorers for the Miners, and will be sorely missed. “[The Great Lakes Valley Conference] is full of very talented individuals and to make gains within the conference will demand great effort and commitment, which I think we are capable of.” Those were the words of Coach Martin before the season started. He was right about the GLVC being talented, but what he did not count on was that a lot of that talent was on his own team. The Miners showed the Midwest that they are not just a walk over Division II team (kind of like the Rams and well, the rest of the NFC West), and plan to make even greater strides next year to compete with the powerhouse Division I schools. |
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