The Lady Eagles finished sixth at the NCCAA Championship in sub-freezing temperatures and snowfall on Saturday in Houghton, New York.
The team had extra motivation going into this race after a few disappointing runs, Women’s Cross-Country Head Coach Wade Miller said.
“We talked about [earlier disappointments],” Miller said before Saturday’s meet. “Collectively, they ran faster at our last meet than they have all year, but as individuals, there were things that we needed to work on. I really do think we’ve got room to go improve.”
Miller said the team he took was strong and ready to run aggressively at the national meet, especially his more experienced runners such as Maci Rich, Tara Lewis and Layne Hammer.
“I think throughout the year they gradually got more experience and were better able to handle high-pressure meets,” Miller said. “Our pack looked pretty good. From one through six, we were really, really tight. I think that was advantageous in a bigger meet like this one.”
Oklahoma Christian University’s nationals team consisted of Miller’s top seven runners; including Rich, Hammer, Lewis and Ibison, accompanied by Katie Jones, Sarah Cobb and Emily Morton.
According to Miller, the team’s performance throughout the season foreshadowed success in Houghton.
“Maci, Layne, Ainsley and Tara have all led us in a race at some point this season and all six of our top runners finished within 65 seconds, so we thought if we could race like that we would finish really well,” Miller said.
Rich said she felt the same about the race and stage atmosphere this week.
“This week’s approach was different because I wasn’t trying to get any kind of award or certain place,” Rich said. “My goal was to just go out and compete and represent OC. Same for the rest of the girls on the team – there was no pressure on us. We just wanted to go out and do our best.”
The women finished sixth as a team among the 17 schools represented, the best place of any team in OC history. Individual finishes included a 16th place finish by Maci Rich with a career-best time of 19:06.01 to lead the Eagles and Layne Hammer followed at 26th with a time of 19:32.9. Following Hammer, one place behind at 27th was Ibison with a time of 19:33.3.
Other times for the Lady Eagles included Lewis at 52nd with a time of 20:15, Jones with a time of 20:40.6 at 71st, Cobb at 78th with a 20:46.3 time and Morton at 131st with a time of 22:14.
With her time and rank, Rich earned All-American honors, becoming only the fifth runner in school history to earn the award.
According to Rich, a different training schedule helped her feel refreshed for the national competition.
“Preparation this week was different because we didn’t train as hard and we did a lot less mileage,” Rich said. “At this point in the season we are as fit as we are going to be. So we used this week to get our legs fresh and be ready to race on Saturday. “
The difference between this season and last season was like night and day, Cobb said.
“The season was a major improvement from last season,” Cobb said. “Our team really stepped it up this year, a lot more than I saw coming.”
Miller said the meet was a perfect ending to the season.
“The girls really had a big race,” Miller said. “They ran with confidence and came away with a big team performance. I am so proud of the way they seized the opportunity to compete today and really left everything in the race.”
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