2008 Woodie Awards
Women fall short in conference race
Terran Wertz runs a record race for the Flyers
Phil DeSantis
Issue date: 11/14/05 Section: Sports
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The Lewis woman's cross country team knew this year would not be easy, but no one knew just how easy it would be for Terran Wertz, who finished sixth at the Great Lakes Valley Conference race with a time of 21:32 on the 6K course. Wertz, who was injured for most of her freshmen season, had made the move to top of the woman's team between the end of last season and this season.
"It was a good season," Wertz said. "It was a great improvement, I feel like the new training program we had this year helped me grow by leaps and bounds. The team has a lot of room to improve, but due to injuries, the season wasn't as fruitful as we had hoped for." The "new program" comes from coach Rick Wemple, a Yale graduate who had coached the Brown University woman's team previous to Lewis' ladies.
The other women who participated in the race at St. Joseph's College included Juliann Szablewski (39th, 23:25), Theresa Dexl (47th, 24:03), Amanda Hammond (57th, 24:38) and Tenleigh Ayers (63rd, 25:10). The woman's team finished in eighth place but was just one point behind seventh-place Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
In their final regular season meet at the Border War, Wertz broke the 19-minute mark for the first time in her collegiate career en route to a 14th-place finish out of 216 runners.
"She has done very well," Wemple said. "Terran finishes in the top 10 to top 15 just about every event, and in the top three out of Division II, III and NAIA, and has been very successful."
Szablewski finished 99th, Dexl came in 136th, Hammond closed in 145th and Ayers took 152nd. The Flyers finished 14th out of 22 teams in the race.
"In our previous meet, we went out way too fast and paid an ugly price," Wemple said. "In the Border War, we decided to control the pace more and we ran faster or at least as fast. It was a great deal more hilly, but we made good adjustments. It was a breakthrough for me as a first-year coach and for the athletes as well.
"They did really well. We cannot focus on team scores. Individuals improved on times from earlier and a year ago and that's what determines the succes of a team. We do not have a lot of women, which hurts our placement, but I am pleased with the improvement individually. It helps us so we can sell it to future members."
The Flyer women compete one more time this season at the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Championships on Nov. 5, in Big Rapids, Mich.
"It's a very flat course," Wemple said. "It's got good comparisons to St. Joe's. We'll just try to improve or at least match our times."
"It was a good season," Wertz said. "It was a great improvement, I feel like the new training program we had this year helped me grow by leaps and bounds. The team has a lot of room to improve, but due to injuries, the season wasn't as fruitful as we had hoped for." The "new program" comes from coach Rick Wemple, a Yale graduate who had coached the Brown University woman's team previous to Lewis' ladies.
The other women who participated in the race at St. Joseph's College included Juliann Szablewski (39th, 23:25), Theresa Dexl (47th, 24:03), Amanda Hammond (57th, 24:38) and Tenleigh Ayers (63rd, 25:10). The woman's team finished in eighth place but was just one point behind seventh-place Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
In their final regular season meet at the Border War, Wertz broke the 19-minute mark for the first time in her collegiate career en route to a 14th-place finish out of 216 runners.
"She has done very well," Wemple said. "Terran finishes in the top 10 to top 15 just about every event, and in the top three out of Division II, III and NAIA, and has been very successful."
Szablewski finished 99th, Dexl came in 136th, Hammond closed in 145th and Ayers took 152nd. The Flyers finished 14th out of 22 teams in the race.
"In our previous meet, we went out way too fast and paid an ugly price," Wemple said. "In the Border War, we decided to control the pace more and we ran faster or at least as fast. It was a great deal more hilly, but we made good adjustments. It was a breakthrough for me as a first-year coach and for the athletes as well.
"They did really well. We cannot focus on team scores. Individuals improved on times from earlier and a year ago and that's what determines the succes of a team. We do not have a lot of women, which hurts our placement, but I am pleased with the improvement individually. It helps us so we can sell it to future members."
The Flyer women compete one more time this season at the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Championships on Nov. 5, in Big Rapids, Mich.
"It's a very flat course," Wemple said. "It's got good comparisons to St. Joe's. We'll just try to improve or at least match our times."
