AVERY, MICHIGAN STATE RUN AWAY WITH WOMEN'S TITLES AT NCAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
By Chris Lotsbom, @ChrisLotsbom
(c) 2014 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission.

TERRE HAUTE, IND. (22-Nov) -- On a cloudy, blustery day in Cross Country Town USA, pre-race favorites Kate Avery of Iona College and the women of Michigan State ran to their first national titles here at the NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships. Triumphing in dominant fashion, both were overcome with emotion shortly after crossing the finish.

AVERY LED ALL THE WAY

Twelve months ago, Iona College's Avery made a valiant attempt to win her first NCAA cross country title, taking the lead early on, despite less than ideal conditions. Thoughts of last year's race --where she'd get passed by eventual champion Abbey D'Agostino and runner-up Emma Bates-- fueled the Briton as she toed the line here today with teammates by her side.

"I knew if I wanted to have a good chance of winning that I was going to run it hard. I didn't want to leave it up to the sprint finishers, I didn't want to go out slow," Avery told Race Results Weekly, speaking in a thick English accent.

Through the mile in 5:13, Avery knew the pace was fast, yet felt comfortable. After taking fourth at the Commonwealth Games 10,000m on the track in July, Avery rested and didn't open her cross country season until the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships on October 31, which she won by one minute and 42 seconds. At last weekend's Northeast Regional --her second cross country meet of 2014-- she toasted the field with a winning margin of 23 seconds.

Racing today with fresher legs than a majority of her competitors, Avery knew she had the strength necessary to take the top spot. Through two kilometers, she was joined closely by Arkansas's Dominique Scott, Boise State's Bates, and Arizona State's Shelby Houlihan.

"We got to 2-K really fast and the girls kind of eased off and I was like I'm not doing that because that leaves it up to questions. I wanted it to be a true hard race," she said.

Shortly thereafter, Avery took off and never looked back. Hitting 5-K in 16:03, Avery had close to a 50-meter lead. That lead would stay comfortable through the course's latter stages, as Avery traversed the subtle uphills all by herself. The biggest challenge would come from the elements down the final 500 meter long straightaway.

"I was just, like, 'Get to [the] finish, get to the home-straight and finish it off.' It was so hard the last finishing straight with the wind in your face. I was like just get there!" said Avery, putting a long emphasis on the word "so," and shivering slightly from the cold.

Crossing the line in 19:31.6, Avery became the ninth foreign athlete since 2004 to win the title. Hailing from Newton Aycliffe, England, she is the first British-born women's champion since 1995 (Kathy Butler, then competing for Wisconsin, was born in Britain but was then competing as a Canadian).

"Oh my God, I can't believe it! I knew I was running well and stuff, but I don't know," she said, pausing ever so briefly to put the win in perspective. "It's unbelievable. It's just happened and it hasn't sunk in. I don't know -- I was just running scared kinda again and saying 'Get to the finish line!'"

Making the win extra special was the fact that Avery's Iona teammates competed here today, finishing ninth. A large contingent of Iona student-athletes drove 15 hours through the night from New Rochelle, N.Y., to attend the meet and cheer for their teammates.  Four shirtless men ran around the spectator area of the course, carrying four one-letter flags spelling I-O-N-A.

"There's so many people here," Avery said with a grand smile, gesturing to a group of men holding the flags. "We've got loads of support with us here today."

Behind Avery, Wisconsin sophomore Sarah Disanza finished a surprising second in 19:39.9, followed by Boise State's Bates (19:44.5), and Michigan State's Rachele Schulist (19:54.3). Fifth through seventh went to a trio of pre-meet favorites: Baylor's Rachel Johnson (19:56.8), Arkansas's Scott (20:01.3), and Iowa State's Crystal Nelson (20:08.5). Arizona State senior Houlihan crossed the line in 20:11.4, taking ninth place.

Top freshman honors went to Stanford's Elise Cranny, 12th in 20:17.0.


MICHIGAN STATE SHOWED THEIR SUPERIOR DEPTH

At yesterday's pre-race press conference, Michigan State senior Leah O'Connor and Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Walt Drenth spoke to the media with a mixture of eagerness and serenity. Both knew what a national title would mean to their program, and how a win here would bring their season full circle. A team that included six of their seven runners from the state of Michigan and five fifth-year seniors all wanted to go out on top.

That's just what the Spartans did, earning a commanding victory with 85 points to complete an undefeated season.

Leading the squad was sophomore Schulist, the only Spartan to crack the top ten with a fourth place finish in 19:54.3. Junior Lindsay Clark was 11th in 20:16.0, followed by fifth-year seniors Leah O'Connor (17th, 20:20.8), Julia Otwell (21st, 20:29.5), and Sara Kroll (61st, 20:56.7). Rounding out the team were sophomore Alexis Wiersma (69th, 21:01.0) and Katie Landwehr (119th, 21:21.8).

"Amazing! You can't beat this. You see this? These are the best girls in the world," said Schulist, speaking to Race Results Weekly surrounded by teammates, family, and fans. "They're just amazing. I just love our team. We just work together and take care of each other. We care about each other and that's what makes us. There's so much love, so much love. I love it."

Although she had a self-described bad race, O'Connor was brought to tears in recapping the season's journey with her teammates.

"We were crying as soon as we crossed the line pretty much. We knew we put it all out there, and it was so fun. I felt terrible but I didn't care because that was amazing and it didn't matter. It was all about the team. Wow. I don't want it to be over to be honest," said O'Connor, a tear falling down her cheek and a skull-and-crossbones ribbon in her hair. "This is a bond that will never be broken."

The Spartans were never challenged, earning a comfortable 62-point victory over runner-up Iowa State (147 points). New Mexico, who entered today's meet ranked ninth in the country, ran very well to finish third with 188 points.

But, the day belonged to the Spartans.

"What a great group of people," said an emotional Coach Drenth speaking to reporters.  "I mean, it's just so much fun to watch, and they were all-in today. I don't think there was any hesitation in anything we did. I thought we were great as a team, I thought... every time we got into trouble we figured our way out of it.  You know, Leah fell off that front group and never really lost her poise, and then to have her teammates pick her up. What an effort by the whole group. I think Katie was in the low 100's and she was our seventh. That's what we talked about: Just let's see how good we can be and let it turn out."


PHOTO: Kate Avery with a commanding lead at the 2014 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships; she would win by four seconds (photo by David Monti for Race Results Weekly)