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SPORTS
| November 4, 2003
Cross Country
Women miss championship
Coach John Sauerhage says he is
disappointed with both teams’ finishes in the SLC championship.
By Britney
Tabor
The Shorthorn staff
The women’s squad finished second and the men fifth in Monday’s
Southland Cross Country Conference Championships in Huntsville.
Coach John Sauerhage said he was disappointed with the outcome of
both teams.
On Friday, Sauerhage said he was looking to the women to steal the
title from defending champion Stephen F. Austin, but that was not
the case.
“We competed hard and did our best, but SFA’s women
are just better,” Sauerhage said. “The women had their
best meet of the year, but we’re just not the best team in
the conference.”
In the women’s division, SFA defended its title as conference
champs, and Lamar University came in third. In the men’s division,
SFA, Sam Houston State and McNeese State finished in the top three.
Among all runners, UTA’s women’s team averaged a time
of 1:32:34.10 on a 5,000-meter course, while the men averaged a
time of 2:18:17.30 on a 8,000-meter course.
In individual standings, senior Lisa Haglund finished third at 17:40.40,
while her twin sister, Kajsa, rounded off the top five at 18:02.10.
Sophomore Nicole Noel and senior Miranda Zuniga were two of the
top 15 runners finishing a little under 19 minutes. In the men’s
division, senior Erik Petersson fell during the race but finished
seventh at 25:52.50 and junior Jacob Cedertun finished 19th at 27:04.50.
UTA finished with a total of 72 points in the women’s competition.
The men finished their race with 148 points. The Haglund sisters
qualified for the 2003 NCAA South Central Region Cross Country Championship
on Nov. 15 in Waco.
Lisa Haglund said the women expected to go further in the competition.
The team improved with every meet and wants to continue doing so
during the indoor and outdoor spring season, she said. She said
she was happy with her outcome.
“It’s never fun when you think it is going to go better
than it does,” she said. “We did our best, and hopefully
we’ll cross first next time.”
Sauerhage said he was happy with Petersson’s performance because,
before falling, he was in the top four runners. He said it’s
good to have four of the best distance runners in the conference
on both teams. The men need to change something to be competitive
next season, he said.
“They ran hard, but we just came up short. We’ll accept
the result and move on,” he said. “The conference has
gotten better, and we’re going to have to get some more talented
athletes if we want to compete for a conference championship in
the future.”
Cedertun said the team should not have placed lower than third place.
Placing fifth has taught the team a lesson on improving before the
track and field season arrives, he said.
“I think the guys didn’t do what we were supposed to,”
he said. “We’re a bunch of middle-distance runners,
and we didn’t have what it took to compete against some of
the top teams.”
Lisa Haglund said that although the team’s results were disappointing,
she is happy about competing in the regional meet. Her goal is to
finish in the top 25 of regional runners and make all-regional.
“I just want to try to improve my time and run as fast as
I can,” she said.
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2003
SLC Cross country championships
Women’s Division Team Standings
1. Stephen F. Austin
2.UTA
3. Lamar
4. McNeese State
5. Sam Houston State
6. Texas State
7. UT- San Antonio
8. Northwestern State
9. Southeastern Louisiana
10. Louisiana-Monroe
11. Nicholls State
Men’s Division Team Standings
1. Stephen F. Austin
2. Sam Houston State
3. McNeese State
4. Louisiana-Monroe
5. UTA
6. Lamar
7. UT- San Antonio
8. Texas State
9. Northwestern State
10. Southeastern Louisiana
11. Nicholls State
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| John
Sauerhage, cross country coach, says the Lady Mavericks
are “just not the best team in the conference.”
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