After posting its highest finish since 2002 at the Big 12 Championships, the Texas women’s cross country team heads to Waco for the 2008 South Region Championships in hopes of at least equaling its strong performance in Iowa.
With a two-week layoff since the Big 12 race, the team is more than ready to compete in what could be its last meet of the year.
“We had a great conference meet. We knew all along we were going to run a great race even though other teams didn’t think so,” said head coach Steve Sisson. “We are taking the same mentality into this weekend’s race.”
After missing the first couple races of the year due to injury, junior Betzy Jimenez, who was named to the All-Big 12 team after the Big 12 Championships, has the best individual chance of making it to the NCAA Championships if she can piece together another strong race.
Senior Larkin Geyer will look forward to a strong outing herself in hopes of finishing her collegiate career on a high note. Geyer has been the backbone of the team during the four years she has been at Texas in terms of leadership on and off the course.
“There is no other way to say it other than we have been blessed to have Larkin on our team,” Sisson said. “She has great leadership, great performances and great balance. She is an amazing person and a great influence on the younger runners. We will definitely miss her.”
After two consecutive strong performances, freshman Laleh Mojtabaeezamani and freshman Mia Behm look to finish off this year with a bang and show they are the future for the team.
“Laleh and Mia are two runners we expected to do well this year,” Sisson said. “They have both done a great job and definitely have shown us something.”
The Longhorns as a team will look to use this race as momentum that carries them into their off-season work. Sisson realizes after a tough year that this team has a bright future ahead of them.
“We have been able to maximize our performance with our kids. We had a rough year losing people along the way to injury,” he said. “Looking forward to next year, we lose Larkin, but I see this team being better than it was. The future is really bright.”
Texas will likely need to beat one of the top four teams to make it to nationals. Based on the way the selection committee has done it in the past, if the Longhorns beat SMU or Rice, they are likely to get a strong push in the right direction for nationals.
“I think our chances are good, and I think we are going to have a great race,” Sisson said.
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