Friday, November 16, 2012

Gopher Women Hoping to Finish Strong

The University of Minnesota's women's team  will compete in their eighth straight NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship this weekend. They hope to end Gary Wilson’s final season as head coach on a high note.

Minnesota finished 27th at last year’s national meet. The team has five members with NCAA Championship experience and is ranked 25th in the final USTFCCCA poll. Assistant coach Sarah Hesser said that Gophers are predictedd to finish somewhere in the second half of the field.

“On a great day, I think we could be in the high teens,” she said. “On an average day, we should be in the mid-20s, I would guess. …But the way the national meet works, it’s just so hard to predict. Every team that’s there is really, really good.”

Minnesota brings positive momentum into the race after a close third-place finish at the Midwest Region meet.“I think we ran the best team race of our season at regionals,” Hesser said.

As they have the whole fall, the Gophers will keep trying to get even better. The runners have said continually that they were not completely satisfied with their performances. “I think it shows how much we know what we can do, and how high our expectations are,” junior Ashlie Decker said of that mentality.


Video interview with Hesser is HERE.

Strib interview with Gary Wilson is HERE.

No comments: