Cross Country: Eastern women off to slow start

Monday, September 15 2008 - EIU Invitational

By: Brandy Provaznik/Staff Reporter

Posted: 9/16/08

As freshman Claire Dau rounded the top of the lake to start the second mile on Friday at the EIU Panther Invite, she glanced down at her watch and her mouth dropped.

She was about 12 seconds slower than her projected pace.

"I was like, 'This feels about right,' and then I looked at my watch and was like, 'No, no, not right all,'" Dau said.

Dau said after seeing the time she still felt good so it was easier for her to look past the slow start and to try and fix it right away.

"I started eyeing people out in front of me and I was like, 'OK, the girl in the green, I am going to go get her next,' and just one by one," Dau said. "Because if you look at everyone in front of you, you are just like, 'Oh my goodness there are so many more people ahead of me,' but if you just pick a couple out and gradually pass them it's a lot easier."

Head coach Geoff Masanet said the women's sixth place finish this weekend isn't really indicative of their talent.

Freshman Brittany Arthur placed 14th overall in the race but was running unattached for Eastern due to some NCAA clearinghouse issues.

"If you put Brittany in as our number one runner we improve by 25 points, and that would bump us up above (Southern Illinois Edwardsville)," Masanet said.

Packs have to stay together

This weekend at the EIU Panther Invite, Masanet said it became evident that the Panthers aren't keeping their packs together.

In cross country, a goal is to keep groups of runners from the same team together in order to help encourage and push each other throughout the race.

"It's just a lot easier when you're teammates are pulling you along," Dau said. "And it is a lot more intimidating when you pass other runners and there is a bunch of you."

The Eastern men did have two distinct packs for the first mile, but they didn't stay together much longer after that.

Southern Illinois-Carbondale, which won the race on both sides, did a better job of keeping their packs together, with five of the top ten places in the women's race and seven of ten in the men's race.

"(SIU-C) kept a strong pack for four miles," Masanet said. "That is what we need to do. We can't let those packs dissolve like we did."

Changes to the routine

The Panthers do not have a meet scheduled for this weekend but Masanet said they would still be training.

Masanet said having the weekend off from a meet atmosphere should be a benefit to the Panthers.

This week marks the start of a change in the workout routine for the Panthers.

Masanet said the workouts up to this point have been slower than race pace with a lot less rest and now they are shifting to more specific workouts that are run at race pace.

Eastern red-shirt senior Brad Butler said the lighter training the last few weeks was good to get base miles in and to get peoples legs ready for what is to come.

"Now we are going to try to get more race ready," Butler said. "We are going to use these hard workouts to get our speed up so we can look our best at meets."

Brandy Provaznik can be reached at 581-7944 or at blprovaznik@eiu.edu.