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SOU cross country team on the rise, starts Saturday By JENNIFER SQUIRES Ashland Daily Tidings The overcast skies keep Lithia Park cool Tuesday morning, as the Southern Oregon University women's cross country team gathers just down from the Parks and Recreation office. It's almost 9 a.m. when 10 of the 11 women on the team meet up with fifth-year head coach Grier Gatlin to get the day's workout under way. "Let's stretch 'em and stride 'em," Gatlin directs. The workout of five to six 800-meter repeats around the park will be the first speed workout for more than half of the women on the team. Although it's only day two of team practice, the team has already attracted national attention. Last week, the Raiders were ranked No. 19 in the NAIA poll. The SOU women harriers havn't been listed in a preseason poll for more than 10 years. But the No. 19 ranking didn't surprise Gatlin. "I remember Monty Cartwright (the former SOU athletic director) telling me it was going to take four to six years to get the kind of program I wanted," Gatlin said, recalling the prediction. "This is where I wanted to be right now." Right now, the Raiders sit in the middle of a region with five teams ranked in the NAIA top-20. Northwest College of Everett, Wash., captured the NAIA team title at the 2002 cross country nationals and lead the preseason rankings. No. 7 Simon Fraiser University , No. 9 Eastern Oregon University and No. 10 Lewis and Clark State College are all opponents the Raiders will take on at the NAIA Region 1 Championship in early November. Last year, the SOU women finished third in the conference and sixth in the region. They were just shy of qualifying for the national meet, where four of the top-10 teams came from Region 1. "The tough thing is being in a conference that is so good," Gatlin said. "I think what we've chosen to do is get better." The high ranking indicates the growth the program has made. "Our goal is to be a top-10 team at nationals," Gatlin said. "We have two girls coming back who ran in the mid-18s." Sophomore Hadley Roe, the women's top returner, ran 18:44 for 5,000 meters in 2002 and junior Kierra Bernales set a personal best of 18:53 as the No. 3 runner on last year's squad. The 2003 team also boasts Brynn Cogdill. The sophomore transferred from Portland State University last winter, after finishing No. 2 for the Vikings and 19th overall in the Big Sky Cross Country Championship. With the return of Gonzaga transfers and Hidden Valley High grads Emily and Alanna Steinert, who red-shirted last year, the team's top-five runners have each run under 19 minutes. "We have a lot more depth this year," Roe said. "There's not as wide of a range between our first and last girl this year, even though we have double the number (of runners)." Even though six of the 11 women are new to the Raiders and five are true freshmen, Gatlin believes most of them will dip below 20 minutes for 5,000 meters this season. Freshmen Mallory Gordon from LaSalle High in Portland, Willamette High's Becca Neilson and Lakeview native Megan McDonald should all compete for one of the top-seven positions on the team. "College cross country, when it's this close, it's runners four through seven. That's where meets are won," Gatlin said. "It's going to take some girls getting into the 19s." "I'm excited for all the new freshmen," Roe said. "They seem really good. I think it's going to be a really good year." The Raiders' first test comes Saturday at the George Fox University Invitational at Champoeg State Park near St. Paul, Ore. The women will face six teams over a 4,000-meter course. "Talk about a journey into the unknown," Gatlin said. "The older runners are excited and that's good. For the younger runners, it doesn't matter if we're racing East Pinnesota and they all weigh 600 pounds, they're gong to be nervous." The other disadvantage SOU must deal with is the late start to their season. Most other NAIA schools have one, if not two, meets behind them already. "But, we have some people who really like running and, oh look, they're good at it," Gatlin said. "Ultimately, at the end of the day, we enjoy doing it." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -