Season in Review: 2010 Cross Country Recap
12/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Dec. 29, 2010
HOUSTON - The University of Houston cross country team used a steady dose of youth and numerous sources of talent to post another successful season in 2010.
Head coach Ryan Turner compiled a grueling schedule for his men's and women's squads, as they lined up against regionally or nationally ranked teams each time they took the course this fall.
The Cougar women posted their third-straight top-10 NCAA South Central Regional Championship finish, capping off a season consisting of three runner-up performances, a fifth-place mark, a top-30 effort against nearly 60 teams in Arkansas and earned seventh place at the Conference USA Championships.
Meanwhile, the Cougar men put together a team title, two third-place finishes, a fifth-place mark, a top-30 performance in one of the most elite meets in the country and took sixth place at the C-USA Championships.
"We did improve as a team," Turner said. "But, the way that we train, it's hard to compare ourselves week-to-week. We train in cycles where we know there are weeks that we train harder and train through meets. Every week we can learn new things and work on different phases of training to try and get better. You can't put time as the only indicator of improvement. There are many other ways to show improvement."
Houston kicked off its season at home with the Johnny Morris UH Invitational on Sept. 3, notching a second-place finish by the women and third place for the men.
In eighth place, sophomore Kathryn Ducommun became the first of three different Cougars to lead the Cougars across the finish line in 2010. Eight Cougars placed in the top-25 to power the women's squad to second place behind the nationally ranked Texas Longhorns. Led by junior Nate Pineda's third-place individual performance, the men's team captured third place in the season opener.
The Cougars stayed in Houston for the next race, this time on crosstown rival Rice's course. Houston's women ran the first race of the meet, posting its second-straight runner-up finish. Again paced by Ducommun, the Cougars came in closely behind the regionally-ranked Owls. Pineda also powered the team in the men's race, taking fifth to help his team finish in third place.
Houston returned to defend both its men's and women's title at the LSU Tiger Cross Country Festival on Sept. 25. Junior Brandi Witte led the women's team for the first time, placing fifth while helping her team to second place in the 12-team field. Pineda continued his streak, finishing as the No. 1 runner for the Cougars. Sophomore David Smith and juniors Anthony Jordan, Andres Santaolalla and Stephan Keller each finished in the top-15 to propel the men to their second-consecutive team victory at LSU.
"I'm very proud of the guys and the depth we had on our team," Turner said. "We asked those guys to do a lot of things. We had 13 guys on our roster, but due to redshirts and other injuries, we only had a competitive roster of eight this year. That has to improve, that's why I'm out recruiting and continuing to build our program."
A quick break in the action returned UH back to racing on Oct. 9 at the Disney Cross Country Classic in Orlando, Fla. Although both teams came in fifth, the race produced new leaders for both the men and women. Smith crossed the finish line first for the Cougar men, marking the first time Pineda did not lead his team since his freshman season. Pineda challenged his younger teammate, clocking in behind Smith by a single second. Junior Megan Munoz became the third different Cougar to lead the women's team in 2010 when she placed 18th in Orlando.
"Anytime that you have internal competition within your program, that's always a good sign," Turner said. "When you have several different girls finishing as the team's No. 1 runner, you have a group of kids that are all very competitive. If you look at successful programs, they all have internal competition. You don't learn to race by racing, you learn to race by competing in practice."
From there, the Cougars went on to compete in the toughest regular-season meet at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival. Six teams from the USTFCCCA's top-25 entered the meet, including the defending NCAA Champion Oklahoma State's men's team. Led by Pineda, the men bested nearly half of the field with their 27th-place finish out of 50 teams. The women checked in at 30th out of 56 teams. Ducommun became the only Cougar to break into the top-100 in either race as the team competed against more than 900 runners.
"Every year you look back at your schedule and think you could've changed some things here or there," Turner said. "You never know if you're going to have an athlete injured or sick, so you put together a schedule and hope that everyone is ready to go when you get to the big meets.
"That was the case when we went to Arkansas. We had some guys get sick and were without the use of Brandi Witte on the women's side, who happened to be our No. 1 runner the week before. Then that knocked us out of the rankings as a team and we rebounded well from that."
For the first time in C-USA history, the University of Tulsa hosted the championship meet. Turner and his team set high standards for themselves, and battled against a tough field to emerge with a sixth-place finish for the men and seventh for the ladies. The performance earned the women's squad its third-straight NCAA Regional Championship appearance.
Munoz set the pace for the women, finishing in 31st while Smith checked in at 27th to miss making the All-Conference USA team by just 36 seconds.
At the NCAA South Central Regional in Waco, Texas, Munoz again led the Cougars. Disregarding their No. 15 regional ranking or expected finish, the Cougars powered their way into the top-10 with the fourth-highest finish in program history since the formation of the south central regional.
According to Turner, Munoz ran "like a rock star" when she sailed through the 6K course in 21:42.6, clocking in only 11 seconds shy of Houston's last NCAA Championship qualifier in 2008.
Smith ran as the only representative for the men's squad and clipped nearly half of the field without the benefit of his teammates on the course. The sophomore recorded a lifetime best mark in the 10K race with a time of 32:29.8.
Smith capped off his season by becoming the only Cougar named to the C-USA All-Academic Team, but it was senior Jasmine Trier who captured the biggest spotlight of the season.
In December, Trier was honored with the Conference USA Spirit of Service award. Her work in the community was awarded by the league office when she was selected as the winning student-athlete for the University of Houston.
Trier is one of two seniors the Cougar cross country team will lose to graduation this spring. Fellow team co-captain Erica Hannemann also completed her collegiate career at the conclusion of the 2010 season.
Players Mentioned
