“The women’s cross country team will rely on experience and new recruits in an attempt to bring the first leg of the Triple Crown to the University of Akron. To earn the Triple Crown, a team must win the cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field Mid-American Conference Championship in the same year.”
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The women’s cross country team will rely on experience and new recruits in an attempt to bring the first leg of the Triple Crown to the University of Akron.
To earn the Triple Crown, a team must win the cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field Mid-American Conference Championship in the same year.
Women’s cross country coach Scott Jones believes an experienced cross country team is the key to reaching the Triple Crown once again.
The returning runners are a year older and more experienced. We have good progression historically in our program, and on top of that, we add some outstanding newcomers.
The 2005-06 women’s cross country and track and field team was the only women’s team in MAC history to accomplish the feat.
Last season was a big transition for the team. In 2005, it was a veteran-dominated team with five senior runners. Last season, the Zips were a much younger team that depended on less experienced runners.
Two of the newcomers, Larisa Arcip and Cassie Schenck, are highly regarded runners with previous running experience. Schenck was one of the top high school runners in the country last year for Crestwood High School in Mantua. Arcip, a native of Vaslui, Romania, finished fourth in the 1,500 at the European Junior Championships in 2005.
Another new member of the team is transfer Carol Eckerly. Eckerly is a former Miami RedHawk. She has already competed against teams in the MAC and has competed in two MAC Championships.
Jones has plenty of confidence in the potential of his team.
On paper, this could be our best cross country team ever. Ohio University won the MAC last year. We have a ton of respect for that program and all the other programs in the MAC, but we’re certainly not afraid of them.
After being picked to finish seventh in the MAC last season, the Zips finished a respectable third in the MAC Championships.
I think there’s no doubt that we’ll better our performance this season. Our first goal is to win the MAC, Jones said. After that, we’ll let things evolve and have discussions as a team to see what we want to do. This team sees itself as a national level program.
It will take a strong performance from the women’s cross country team to secure the first installment of the Triple Crown, but with a confident and experienced Zips team, it is certainly an attainable first step.
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