Analysis of the 2002 NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Coaches' Poll
by Mike Scott,
University of Rhode Island
Updated: October 7
For the sixth consecutive year, I am analyzing the Women's Division I Coaches' Poll. Teams are listed according to their ranking in the current edition of the FinishLynx/NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL POLL, as conducted by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches' Association.
Here's the top 5 teams; the complete version of the analysis may be found at:
http://miscott.home.att.net/wxcanal
Places listed in parentheses refer to finish at the 2001 NCAA D-1 XC Championships at Furman University, unless otherwise noted. Performances are from the 2001-02 year, unless otherwise noted. Performances at the Foot Locker High School Cross Country Championships are denoted by "FL".
As always, I appreciate additions, corrections, and updates. Please send them to me at
Weekend Roundup:
While harrier action this weekend was a bit quieter than last weekend's Great American-Roy Griak-Stanford-Iona Meet of Champion quadruple header, there were still several outstanding meets contested the first weekend of October.
Stanford 1-2-3-ed the field at the 10/4 Notre Dame Invite, with Wisconsin downing regional foe Notre Dame despite highly touted frosh Molly Huddle's much-anticipated debut for the Irish. The Cardinal's Sarah Bei, Lauren Fleshman, and Alicia Craig dominated the race, with the trio taking control at about 1000m and simply powering away. Huddle claimed 4th, while Stanford's Malindi Elmore got up for fifth ahead of Notre Dame's Lauren King. The Badgers used a tight 27-second 1-5 spread to claim runner-up honors as the host Irish had to wait a while for their 4th and 5th scorers to finish.
Arkansas easily won the 10/5 Indiana State Preview (aka, NCAA Preview #1), while a resurging Michigan edged Villanova for runner-up honors as both squads finished ahead of Colorado State.
Georgetown edged SW Missouri State at the 10/5 Cowboy Jamboree, while Colorado edged D-2 powerhouse Western State by a single point at the 10/5 Rocky Mountain Shootout. Missouri dominated the 10/5 Loyola Lakefront Invite.
Weekly Preview:
A fairly quiet weekend is in store as most of the country rests for the 10/19 Pre-NCAA meet at Indiana State. Still?
At the 10/11 New Englands, Boston College and Yale line up for local bragging rights. Arizona State hosts Stanford and Northern Arizona at the Arizona State Invitational. Penn State hosts Providence, Villanova, William & Mary, and Tennessee at the 10/12 National Invitational. Other meets include the 10/11 All-Ohio, 10/12 Michigan Intercollegiates, 10/12 North Carolina Intercollegiates, 10/12 Tiger Invitational, and 10/12 Texas A&M Invite.
TOP THIRTY TEAMS:
1. Brigham Young (Mountain)
Patrick Shane's BYU Cougars have won three NCAA crowns in the last five years (97-99-01). BYU would appear to be in the driver's seat to win it all, returning five of their last year's NCAA seven -- a quintet that would have won last year's meet by a large margin. Last year's individual fifth-placer finisher Michaela Manova stepped it up in during track to win the steeple in an NCAA record and should be considered an individual contender, while teammate Jessie Kindschi claimed 7th. Lindsey Thomsen and Nan (nee Evans) Kennard finished 23rd and 36th in 2001. Their fifth returnee, Amy Bair, finished 45th last year -- and the Cougars add a sub-34:00 10k runner in Devra Vierkant, a 34:32 10k performer in Kristen Ogden, a 10:28 steepler in Breanne Sandberg, and the junior national 1500 champ Kassi Anderson. Redshirt frosh Breanne Sandberg, a 10:28 steepler last spring), led the Cougars at the 9/14 BYU Autumn Classic as Coach Shane held out his top five.
Great American showed the BYU can run only half their potential top seven and still dominate one of the deepest fields in recent memory. Surprising Kassi Anderson was BYU's top finisher, a mere 9 seconds behind UNC's Shalane Flanagan. Manova was just behind, with Sandberg and Kennard also finishing in the top 7. Running "B" race winner Katie Martin in the seeded race would have netted the Cougars an individual 8th-place too -- and an amazing 26 points. However, BYU settled for a mere 105-point margin of victory. Among those not racing at Great American were NCAA scorers Kindschi and Thomsen, as well as potential scorer Viekant. BYU looks impressive early -- now the question remains whether they can be rated tops in the only poll that matters -- the NCAA championships team scores on November 25! Coach Shane was quoted as saying "I hoped we wouldn't be so dominant because I don't like to be ranked first."
Meets: 10/19 Pre-NCAAs, 11/1 MW Conf (BYU), 11/16 Mtn Reg (NMex)
Returnees: Michaela Manova (5th, 148th '00; 9:18.49i, 9:45.94 s/c; steeplechase champ; 8th ind 3k), Jessie Kindschi (7th, 28th '00 D-2; 34:32.48), Lindsey Thomsen (23rd, 150th '00; 16:16.47; 33:58.20; 8th ind 5k; 16th 10k), Nan (nee Evans) Kennard (36th, 152nd '00; 10:14.16s/c), Amy Bair (45th), Kassi Anderson (WXC, 4:18.04, 1st USA Jr 1500), Devra Vierkant (16:16.97; 33:56.02), Breanne Sandberg (10:28.87s/c), Kristen Ogden (34:32.28), Not returning -- Sarah Taylor (24th, 94th '00, 55th '98),
Newcomer: Shalice Pugmire (4:56.62y)
2. Stanford (West)
Individual contender Lauren Fleshman leads the Cardinal as they attempt to redeem themselves after a disappointing fifth-place team effort last year at Furman. Fleshman, who finished third at last year's harrier championships, went on to claim the indoor 3000 and outdoor 5000 titles. She's joined by former Foot Locker champions Erin Sullivan and Sara Bei, as well as former Foot Locker runner-ups Mariel Ettinger and Anita Siraki, and '01 All American Alicia Craig. In their season opener at Cal-Fullerton, Craig and Bei tied for the win, while Malindi Elmore and Jeane Goff finished 3-4 about 30 seconds back. Siraki, Sullivan, and Ettinger finished 9-11-13, about a minute behind the leaders; Fleshman apparently sat out this race. Stanford swept the long and short course titles at its own invitational, with Bei and Craig taking and easy 1-2 over the 6k, while Fleshman finished 2nd to Canadian star Emilie Mondor at 4k, with Mailindi Elmore claiming 4th. The following week at Notre Dame, the Cardinal dominated the field with Bei, Fleshman, and Craig running away from the field to claim the top three finishers and Elmore claiming 5th behind star Irish frosh Molly Huddle. Stanford's fifth at South Bend was a resurging Anita Siraki, as the Cardinal apparently rested Sullivan.
Meets: 10/11 Arizona State, 10/19 Pre-NCAAs, 11/2 Pac-10s (Pasadena), 11/16 West Reg (Stanford)
Returnees: Lauren Fleshman (3rd, 11th '00, 5th '99; 2nd '98 FL; 4:18.11, 9:07.45i, 15:35.59; '01 & '02 out 5000 champ, ind 3k champ), Alicia Craig (28th; 20th '00 FL), Erin Sullivan (52nd, 25th '00, 7th '99; '97 & '98 FL Champ; '99 USA Jr Champ; 16:30.04, 34:10.32; 10th 10k), Sara Bei (89th; '00 FL Champ; 4:22.98, 16:22.54; 12th out 5k; USA Jr 3k champ), Mariel Ettinger (126th, 96th '00, 217th '99; 2nd '97 FL; 16:47.31), Jeane Goff (10:22.46s/c), Anita Siraki (2nd '00 FL), Malindi Elmore (4:20.12, 4:39.88iy; 4th Mile)
Newcomers: Kristen Cohoon (10:04.77), Yfa Kretzschmar (2:10.05, 5:01.95y); Not running (deferred admission): Julie Allen (11th FL; 4:59.27y, 10:37.75y),
3. Michigan State (Great Lakes)
The Spartans finished 11th in South Carolina last year. Michelle Carson and Jamie Kryzminski lead six returning members of last year's NCAA squad. At the non-scoring 9/20 Spartan Open, Carson shattered the course record to lead 4 of her teammates -- Krzyminski, Stein, Durocher, and Pepera - to finish among the top 8. The Spartans continued to roll at Griak, notching an easy win over a solid field behind Cason's individual title. MSU's website reports that Katie Anderson is injured and is expected to redshirt.
Meets: 10/19 Pre-NCAAs, 11/2 Big Ten, 11/16 Great Lakes (W. Lafayette, Ind)
Returnees: Michelle Carson (34th; 16:38.22, 34:11.96), Jamie Kryzminski (106th; 16:38.25, 33:58.89; 7th 10k), Katie Anderson (116th), Natalie Stein (147th), Cindy Durocher (208th, 62nd '99), Sarah Pepera (10:33.71s/c)
Newcomers: Megan Radermacher (2:14.42), Michelle Rafferty (11:00.70y), Brittany Ballard
4. Colorado (Mountain)
Questions abound following the official season "opener" for the 2000 NCAA Champs. Colorado returns a seasoned core from last fall's eighth-place squad -- Molly Austin claimed 8th individually, while Sara Gorton's 4th in the outdoor 5k shows that she's returned to the form that garnered her an 8th-place finish at the 2000 harrier champs -- plus the Buffs struck it big in the recruiting department this year, signing Foot Locker runner-up Erika Odlaug, '01 USA Junior champ Laura Zeigle, and Laura's twin sister Jackie, 7th at last fall's Foot Locker meet. Foot Locker runner up Odlaug finished 17th at the World XC championships in March, but struggled with posterior tibialis tendonitis for the rest of the spring and skipped the post-season June meets; the Boulder Daily Camera notes that Odlaug might redshirt this season. Odlaug didn't compete at the the 8/31 CU Time Trial, but the Zeigle twins finished just ahead of the rest of the squad, including Christina Bolf, Natalie Florence, Gorton, Tera Moody, and Austin. While Austin and Florence looked strong with an easy 1-2 finish at the 10/5 Rocky Mountain Shootout, Gorton jogged in the last could kilo after reportedly feeling dizzy. And none of the highly touted frosh class (Odlaug and the Sisters Zeigle) appeared -- the CU website noted that Jackie Zeigle has a stress fracture in her left foot while sister Laura was held out with a right forefoot injury and had a bone scan scheduled for later the day of the Shootout.
Meets: 10/12 Tiger Inv, 10/19 Pre-NCAAs, 11/2 Big 12 (Mo), 11/9 Air Force Dual, 11/16 Mtn Reg (NMex)
Returnees: Molly Austin (8th; 16:16.10i, 33:43.11), Tera Moody (88th, 71st '00, 118th '99), Natalie Florence (100th; 16:21.41, 33:40.46), Sara Gorton (8th '00; 4:21.77, 4:40.35iy; 15:51.55; 6th ind mile, 4th out 5k)
Newcomers: Erika Odlaug (2nd FL; 17th World XC; 10:35.13y), Laura Zeigle (3rd '00 FL, '01 USA Jr Champ; 4:25.24, 9:39.14, 10:15.25y, 16:29), Jackie Zeigle (7th FL; 5:02.45y, 9:41.23), Christine Bolf (10:35,.83y)
5. Boston College (Northeast)
Boston College -- sixth in 2001 -- returns an excellent group, but will have to survive without redshirting standout twins Cate and Maggie Guiney. USA Junior champ Maria Cicero, 16th in her collegiate debut, returns to lead the Eagles. Joining Cicero with NCAA experience is Julie Spolidoro, Jennifer Kramer, Jennifer Donovan, and Laura Smith. Three-time Foot Locker qualifier Laura Burdick leads Coach Randy Thomas' newcomers. The Eagles opened with a win at the 9/7 Central Conn Inv, with Spolidoro taking the individual win and Cicero and Kramer sitting out the meet. BC also dominated the 9/13 UNH Invite, with Smith, Donovan, Spolidoro, Cicero, and Burdick sweeping the top five spots as they finished within three seconds of each other.
Meets: 10/11 NEs, 10/19 Pre-NCAAs, 11/1 Big East (Boston), 11/16 NE Reg (NYC)
Returnees: Maggie Guiney (10th, 13th '00, 220th '99), Maria Cicero (16th; USA Jr Champ; 16:13.55i; 33:53.86), Julie Spolidoro (107th, 120th '00; '00 US World XC Team16:43.01), Jennifer Kramer (119th, 97th '00), Jennifer Donovan (183rd; 10:32.64s/c), Cate Guiney (34th '00, 167th '99), Laura Smith
Newcomers: Laurel Burdick (22nd FL; 4:43.25, 10:01.49), Anne Hessberg, Alexis Lake