Colonel Cross Country Turns in Record Day at Southland Championships
 |
 Jordan Reed was the Colonels low stick and had one of six personal records the Colonels set on Saturday |
Oct. 31, 2009
2009 Southland Conference Men's Cross Country Championship Results in PDF Format 
2009 Southland Conference Women's Cross Country Championship Resultsin PDF Format
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Colonel men clocked in with six personal records and the women's squad posted the programs best ever finish at the conference meet as the Nicholls State University men's and women's cross country programs produced plenty of highlights at the 2009 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday.
In a rebuilding season for one of the youngest programs in the conference, three freshmen, two sophomores and a junior combined to give the Nicholls men's team six career records in their biggest meet of the year.
Freshman Jordan Reed led the way on the men's side with a time of 28:19. Sticking to the team's pack-running mentality that coach Matthew Esche had been preaching all season, three more Colonels finished within 31 seconds of Reed.
Sophomore Tyler Folse clocked in at 28:37, junior Joseph Fryou wasn't far behind at 28:48, and freshman Ross Mullooly cross the line two seconds later at 28:50.
Sophomore Justin Babin continued to recover from stress fractures in his feet with a personal record of 29:38 and freshman Dylan Williams rounded things out with a career best time of 31:23 on the 8K men's course.
"Every single guy PR'ed at the conference meet, which is the perfect time to do it," cross country coachMatthew Esche said. "Everybody did a good job and ran tough. But, we still have a lot of work to do. The guys will take a couple of weeks off before they get back at it training for next year. This was a good start for them, and they really did a good job establishing a base for themselves. Now, we need to improve on that for next year."
Meanwhile, the women's 6K race that would see most of the day's drama. The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (ranked No. 7 in the South Central Region by the United State Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) pulled away for the win on their home course with 58 points.
After that, just 75 points would separate the next six teams in one of the most competitive women's cross country conferences in the nation.
Stephen F. Austin upheld their No. 8 region rank by hanging on for second place with 85 points, and the Colonels found themselves in a fight with McNeese State (No. 12 region ranking), Texas-Arlington (No. 13 region ranking) and Texas-San Antonio (No. 14 region ranking) for third.
Junior Lauren Jones led the way for the Nicholls women (who headed into Saturday ranked No. 11 in the region). The Centerville, Iowa native posted the program's first ever All-Southland Conference individual finish by clocking in with an eighth-place time of 21:37.
Freshman Dakota Goodman had an auspicious conference championship debut by cracking the top 20 in her first championship race with a 20th-place time of 22:02. Meanwhile her twin sister Brea managed a top-25 finish with a 24th-place time of 22:05.
Baton Rouge native Kadi Whisnant posted a 50th place time of 23:24, junior Jessica McLeod clocked in at 23:47, Imma Kosgei finished in 24:13 and Houma native Skyla Jackson rounded things out by coverin ghte 6K course in 25:14.
When it was all said and done, the Colonels were outpaced by UTA, UTSA and McNeese. However, Nicholls held on for a total of 157 team points, just 52 points out of third place, tying them with Lamar for sixth in a very crowded field.
Saturday's performance marked a vast improvement for the Colonels after last season's 11th place finish at the league meet. And Esche was able to take solace in the fact that his team's showing also set a new standard for the program after beating their previous record showing of eighth at the 2007 Southland Championships.
"The goal of the meet was to be in the top four," Esche said. "We felt we had a good shot at it today, but you have to give credit to the other teams who ran very well also. To finish tied for sixth with Lamar isn't the worst thing considering we were 11th last year and that this is the best finish in school history. If we look at the big picture here, our girls can be proud of what they did. Lauren Jones, especially ran really well today. It was a phenomenal run by Lauren to pick off everyone in the pack and lead the way for us. She really earned that all-conference honor today."
The Colonel women will return to action at the 2009 South Central Regional Championships hosted by Baylor on Nov. 14