Women's Cross Country Week That Was: Week 5
9/22/2008 12:00:00 AM
Sept. 22, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama head women's cross country coach Randy Hasenbank led the Crimson Tide through their fifth week of practice and is getting the team ready for the home meet. The squad is still working on base work and hills.
The Crimson Tide won their home meet with a score of 38 points and was led once again by freshman Sara Vaughn who won the race covering the 5,000 meter course in a personal best 17:17.95. She was followed by Kelsey Johnson who placed third (17:35.90).
All five scoring runners for Alabama finished in the top 15 with Andrea Torske finishing ninth (18:27.56), Sarah Gilmore in 11th (18:41.27), and Leigh Gilmore in 14th (18:41.27).
"I was very pleased with the performances of the entire squad," Hasenbank said. "They kept their focus and ran well. This is a pretty tough course so I was excited to see that Sara and Kelsey posted the fastest marks by Alabama freshmen since 2000.I know that we had some nice improvement from a couple of our returnees, Megan and Rue were at least a minute faster than last year. Andrea, Sarah, and Leigh also posted personal bests for 5k."
This week the Tide will train through the week and get ready for the meet in Chicago this weekend. The squad hopes to improve on last year's eighth place finish.
"I know that the team is excited to make the trip," Hasenbank said. "This will be a deeper field than we have seen and will be our last 5k of the season."
The Crimson Tide will head to Chicago, Ill. on Sept. 27 to compete at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational. The race will be held at Montrose Beach at 11:00 a.m.
