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The Rice Thresher
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Owls suffer one problem after another, finish disappointing 30th by Chris Larson thresher editorial staff Everything was looking so good for the women's indoor track and field team. After qualifying athletes in four individual events and two relays, the Owls were poised to make their best showing ever at the NCAA Championships last weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. But having things set up for a top performance doesn't guarantee it's going to happen. Plenty of things can go awry - and this became all too real for the Owls last weekend, as unfortunate and unexpected circumstances hurt Rice in one event after another. Rice finished in a tie for 30th place with six points, far fewer than the total the team had in mind. The Owls can only imagine what their total might have been if it hadn't been for disqualifications, collisions with other runners and mental mistakes. "If we had just had a normal day, we would have finished in the top five," head coach Victor Lopez said. "If we had had a good meet, we could have been top three. It was a lot of unexpected situations. The girls were crying. They were very disappointed." The team headed into the meet coming off several excellent performances in the previous weekend's "last chance" meets, where the Owls met the automatic qualifying standard in three events, something no Owl had done all season. Sophomore Tanya Wright broke the school record in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 6.37 seconds and headed into the NCAA meet with the third-best time in the nation. Sophomore Alice Falaiye broke the school record with a long jump of 21-3 1/2, also third-best in the country. The Owls' 1,600-meter relay team posted the fourth-best time in the country in 3:35.43, more than two seconds faster than its previous season-best. They were joined at nationals by junior Aimee Teteris in the 800-meter run, sophomore Allison Beckford in the 400-meter dash and the distance medley relay team, all of whom ran their best marks of the season at the last chance meets and moved high enough on the provisional qualifying list to make the cut. But highlights were few and far between last weekend, and disappointment was rampant. The Owls' one major highlight was the long jump, where Falaiye once again broke the school record, jumping 21-4 1/4 to finish third and earn Rice's six points. Falaiye, a native of Brampton, Ontario, also set a new Canadian indoor record with the jump. In the 800 preliminaries Saturday, Teteris won her heat and posted the fastest qualifying time in the field, but Wright struggled to a third-place finish in her heat and failed to advance. "The first thing I noticed was that Tanya was running kind of heavy, and not as smooth or fluid as usual," Lopez said. "If we had to bet anyone would have advanced to the finals, it would have been her." Beckford faded in her heat of the 400 to finish with the 10th-fastest time in the field. The top eight times advance to the finals. Beckford's time of 53.81 was just .12 seconds slower than the eighth-place mark. "When Allison was cutting in at the breaking line from the first lap into the second lap she relaxed a little too much," Lopez said. "Two runners stepped in front of her and took advantage of it, and Allison couldn't find her stride again." Wright was still off her best stride in the opening leg of the distance medley relay, and the Owls couldn't recover and move up signficantly in the field, finishing 10th in 11:36.92. A week earlier, the Owls had run more than 15 seconds faster. Despite the struggles, however, the Owls headed into Sunday with two big opportunities to score points: the 1,600 relay and the final of the 800. But it apparently wasn't meant to be. Teteris surged through the pack near the end of the 800 to grab third place, but later found out that she was disqualified for impeding a University of Texas runner on the corner of the track when she passed her on the inside. "After about 600 meters I was in the back and tried to pass everyone on the inside," Teteris said. "Going to the corner the space was really small and my feet and another girl's clipped each other, and their coach protested to have me disqualified. To my credit, technically according to the rule book I'm allowed to pass on the inside, and no one fell. Bumping's a part of track, especially indoor track. "It was extremely disappointing. I had never made the finals before, let alone come in third. And I didn't find out until half an hour later - I had already called my parents to tell them I came in third. It was a learning experience, though. I know I need to be a little more careful next time." To top it all off, a collision at the handoff spot between the first and second runners in the 1,600 relay took the Owls out of the race. When senior Kelechi Anderson handed the baton to senior LaKeisha Robertson, the Owls were in great shape, sitting in fourth place in the fastest heat of the meet. But Robertson turned around and ran right into a runner from the University of South Carolina, and the Owls finished 11th with a time of 3:38.75. "The team was ready," Lopez said. "They had a very good, positive attitude but weird things kept happening. There's nothing wrong with the team. We just have to regroup for outdoor." The outdoor season begins next weekend, when the Owls compete at the Texas Southern University relays. More than ever, the Owls believe they can compete at the highest level nationally, and they desperately want to make up for last weekend's disappointment with a standout performance at the outdoor NCAA meet. "It fueled a fire within me," Teteris said. "It'll be the same people at the outdoor nationals, and now I know I can compete with those people. It's the same with the [1,600] relay. We got robbed a little bit, and now we want to get back for outdoor season, show what we can do and go to nationals and make the finals." The Owls won last year's WAC outdoor title and appear ready to repeat. "We have the same chance to win the conference meet outdoors and qualify a lot of people [for nationals]," Lopez said. "Everybody's eager to get going. Although the indoor season finished on a sour note, it was one of our best seasons ever. I'm very proud of the girls."
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