Athletics > Women's Cross Country > Season outlook

Amy Levina2007 PREVIEW

A senior-free roster usually translates into a year of retrenching and rebuilding. But new coach David Paulsen has loftier goals in mind for his Central women’s cross country team.

Paulsen inherits a sophomore-dominated roster that returns seven of its top eight runners and a budding star in Angie Berry, who was the highest-placing freshman at last year’s NCAA Division III national meet. The Dutch were sixth in the Iowa Conference but are eyeing a top-three finish this fall.

Berry was Central’s top finisher in six of eight races in her rookie season. Illness and injury resulted in a 37th-place showing at the Iowa Conference meet but she rebounded with an impressive 13th-place effort at the NCAA Division III Central Region meet. Her 23:05 clocking was the season’s best and helped push Central to 14th in the region team standings, the squad’s highest finish since 2002.

Berry became only the second Central runner to reach the women’s national meet since 1990. Competing on a mud-caked 6,000-meter course in West Chester, Ohio, Berry finished 37th at the NCAA meet in 23:59, just 5 seconds out of 35th place, which would have given her all-America distinction. She followed that by qualifying for the track and field national meet in the 5,000 meters last spring.

Paulsen said that if preparation and training guarantee improvement, look for Berry’s stock to rise even higher in 2007.

“Angie’s a very motivated individual,” he said. “She’s one of the hardest-working athletes I’ve ever been around and is very meticulous in how she prepares.”

Yet Berry is far from the only reason for optimism. Junior Jess Clark and sophomore Amber Mayer were consistently in the team’s top three last year. Clark was Central’s first finisher at the conference meet, placing 17th in 24:14 before taking 69th in the 160-runner regional field. Mayer was Central’s No. 2 runner in three meets and, like Clark, was never lower than third for the squad.

Sophomore Amy Ledvina was in Central’s top-five in each meet and made strides last spring, finishing third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase while sophomores Jenni Hufford, Rachelle Tipton and Kelsey Tompkins were in the mix as well.

Varsity spots are not secure, however. Junior Connie Eshelman is back after an injury-riddled season and sophomore Mandie Barkley showed great promise with a late surge in the middle-distance events during track season last spring.

Newcomers could make some noise as well. Junior Ashley Stevens has joined the squad after two seasons at Iowa Central Community College and freshman Cassandra McDonald of Bellevue is among the freshmen who will get a look.

“The good thing is we have a lot of runners with around the same ability levels,” Paulsen said. “That makes for a lot of competition in practice and that helps make the team aspect so good. We can have different runners leading workouts.”

Luther dominated last year’s conference meet and is the early favorite this year as well ahead of Wartburg. If Central is to climb to No. 3, the Dutch will have to pass Loras, Cornell and Simpson.

“I’ve never been around a group of runners who share the same drive and work ethic that these runners do. As a coach, you can’t ask for anything more than runners who have a positive attitude and work hard.”