November 16, 2005

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Classifieds

Palo Alto Online

A run of success for Stanford women

by Rick Eymer

Arianna Lambie believes a unified team will lead to championship results. That was evident enough on Saturday as the Stanford women's cross-country team raced to its seventh consecutive NCAA Western Regional championship.

Lambie, a redshirt sophomore who missed last season with a fracture in her back, finished nearly 30 seconds ahead of Arizona State's Amy Hastings to capture the individual title.

Just as Lambie ran most of the 6,000-meter course (in 19:29.3) on the Stanford Golf Course by herself, the Cardinal also ran away from the competition as a team as five Stanford runners finished in the top eight.

The Cardinal had 24 points to Arizona State's 48. Washington, with Gunn grad Tori Tyler finishing 15th in 20:47.9, finished third with 117 points.

The Stanford men finished second to Arizona, 33-80, ending its 10-year reign at the West Regional. The Cardinal still earned one of the two automatic berths to the NCAA championship final on Monday in Terre Haute, Ind.

Redshirt sophomore Neftalem Araia led the Cardinal with his eighth-place finish, running 30:03.3 over the 10,000 meter course.

Arizona State finished third and Washington, with Menlo-Atherton grad Jeremy Mineau finishing 16th in 30:43.0, finished in a fourth-place tie with Portland.

Lambie's disappointment over missing last year's championship meet has been replaced with an optimism of future success for the young squad, which sports nary a senior among its 21-member roster.

"Last year was a long rebuilding year," Lambie said. "This year we're ready for some redemption. We've already achieved our main goal and that was to stay unified. We'll race the best we can, and I think it's first."

Stanford is ranked second nationally behind Duke heading into the finals but that may have more to do with Stanford graduating three of its top runners from last year's fifth-place national finish.

"Injuries are long in the past," Lambie said. "I feel fortunate and am thankful that last year's coach, Dena (Evans) was patient with me and helped make the transition with Peter (Tegen) so wonderful. We're all healthy and strong and happy."

Lambie, who finished third in the 1,500 meters in last spring's NCAA Track and Field Championships, earned All-American recognition in cross country as a freshman in helping Stanford win the national title in 2003.

The fracture was discovered in June of 2004, forcing Lambie to the sidelines. This year she's running better than ever. Her victory on Saturday was her fifth in six races - she finished third at the Pre-NCAA meet - and perhaps her most impressive to date.

"I felt under control," she said. "I wanted to push it but not go out of my mind. You always know there are great competitors behind you so you never give up the effort."

Most of those competitors were her teammates. Teresa Walters (20:16.8), Katy Trotter (20:17.1) and Lindsay Flacks (20:17.3) finished in a group, fourth through sixth, and Amanda Trotter (20:26.5) wasn't far behind in eighth.

In fact, all seven Stanford runners finished among the top 20 among the 199 runners. Lauren Centrowitz (20:35.6) ran 12th and Katie Harrington (21:05.3) was 20th. While scoring is based on the top five finishers, the sixth and seventh runners play an important role by finishing ahead of scoring runners from other teams.

"You always want to improve some aspect of your race," Lambie said. "It's not always about time or place. We've had solid training and we're prepared."

While Duke will be favored to win the national title, Stanford is one of several teams which could hoist the trophy. Michigan, Notre Dame, Arizona State and Colorado have the potential to run well. Anything can happen, of course. Stanford was an odds-on-favorite to win last season but had an uncharacteristic poor finish.

The men are also poised to improve upon their sixth-place finish of a year ago.

Stanford on Saturday held out several of its top runners, a gamble of sorts that could pay off on Monday when the Cardinal can insert fresh runners into the lineup.

"We didn't run our 'A' squad," Araia said. "We did what we needed to do to get ready. Last year there was a lot of pressure on one or two runners. This team has changed dramatically. Everyone feels the burden to perform. We've made everybody special."

Arizona had four runners finish in the top six, and five in the top 20 to record the victory and reverse its second-place finish to the Cardinal at the Pac-10 championships in Tucson.

"Arizona had something to prove," Araia said. "They are a good team and they wanted to beat us on our course. We'll go in there (to the national meet) and do our best. Our goal is to maximize our performance that day. We are the team and we'll decide what the team does."

Even with several top runners taking the day off, seven Cardinal runners finished among the top 35 in a race that included 161 competitors. Brett Goucher (30:26.3) was 11th, followed by Jonathan Pierce (30:36.4) in 14th, Garrett Heath (30:54.4) in 23rd, John McGuire (30:55.4) in 24th, Hari Mix (31:00.9) in 28th and Rolf Steier (31:15.0) in 35th.

Stanford can call on the fresh legs of Russell Brown, Jacob Gomez, Forrest Tahdooanippah and David Vidal to put itself in position for a national title.

The Cardinal are currently ranked fourth, with Wisconsin, Arkansas and Colorado standing in the way. Notre Dame and Brigham Young are also title contenders.

Mineau, a sophomore with the Huskies this season, is one of several young runners who are helping Washington develop its up-and-coming program.

"We have some young guys who are not even running yet," Mineau said. "We'll lose two of our top seven runners next year but this is basically a young team."

Mineau missed several weeks, including the Pre-NCAA meet and Pac-10 championships, with bursitis in his hip but he was going to do whatever it took to run on a familiar course.

"When I first heard the regional would be held here I was stoked," he said. "It's so much fun to come back here. I felt at home and was more relaxed than in other races."

Mineau won the Central Coast Section cross country as a senior at M-A in 2003, and ran second in the state meet. He's also a CCS champion in the 3,200 meters in track.

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