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The Rice Thresher
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by Dylan Hedrick for the thresher The men's cross country team may want to consider doing regular rain dances after taking seven of the top 10 positions at the Rice Relays held at the Buffalo Bayou last Friday in Houston. The Owls overcame the water-soaked course and delivered an impressive showing at the meet, which is set up so that two athletes split a total distance of 10,800 meters for the men and 5,400 meters for the women. "We went out and had fun," said junior Erik Mazza, who teamed with freshman Daniel Pessing to place 13th with a final time of 39 minutes, 19.7 seconds. "We were relaxed and our freshmen ran well. This meet basically gave us a gauge for next week and a chance to break in the new teammates." Junior Jeremy LaBuff and senior Keith Pierce formed the meet's winning team, finishing the course in 34:17.3, more than 40 seconds ahead of freshmen Adam Davis and Scott Lofton. "This was the first time this year for the team to run fast," head coach Jon Warren said. "I was very pleased. They put in some great summer work. Jeremy LaBuff had a big summer. Scott Lofton ran surprisingly well." With the first practice meet behind them, the Owls are looking forward to next weekend's Rice Invitational. "We'll run most people at next week's meet," Warren said. "[Freshman] Marcel Hewamudalige probably won't run and Scott Lofton is questionable, but we basically expect to win the meet." The invitational, scheduled for Saturday morning, features a course that begins near the construction by the south colleges. On the women's side, track and field assistant coach Jim Bevan, who is in charge of cross country, is also optimistic about the Owls' chances in 2001. Although the three teams comprised of Rice athletes finished last among the nine teams at the Rice Relays, Bevan said the results were far less important than simply getting the season started and continuing training. "Our team has potential to be great," Bevan said. "We have been spread all over the place but now the team is starting to come together." Recently, some runners on the women's team have been competing in events around the world. Earlier this week, sophomore Tanya Wright returned from the World University Games in Beijing, and Bevan expects her to rest a couple of days before returning to practice. Senior Erin Brand also recently rejoined practice after returning from her victory in the 1,500-meter run at the Canada Summer Games two weeks ago. Bevan does not expect Wright and Brand to begin competing immediately but wants them to rest as they make the conversion from track and field running to cross country training. Sophomore Shannon Murto's muscle fatigue problems, which have plagued the beginning of her season, also seem to be have improved. "Our potential is vast," Bevan said. "We expect to improve as the season progresses."
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