2004 Women's
Cross
Country Outlook
Coming off a GLVC championship in 2003, the University of
Southern Indiana women’s cross country team is trying to make it to the NCAA II
National Championships, which will be held on USI’s home course this November,
for a third consecutive season.
Head Coach Mike Hillyard, the 2003 GLVC “Coach of the Year” for men’s and
women’s cross country, will look to his top three to provide a boost to the
Screaming Eagles in 2004.
Despite loosing one of the top runners in the GLVC and USI’s top runner in 2003
(Jenny Farmer), Hillyard has the luxury of turning to one the top runners in the
country in junior Heather Cooksey
(Brownsburg, Indiana).
In the spring of 2004, Cooksey became the first female in USI history to win a
national championship in any sport. Cooksey won the 3,000 meters and finished
second in the 5,000 meters, helping the women’s track and field team to a
seventh-place performance at the NCAA II Outdoor Championships.
Already a five-time All-American in track and a two-time All-GLVC performer in
cross country, Cooksey is on a short list of favorites to win the 2004 cross
country national championship.
With Cooksey occupying the top spot for USI in 2004, Hillyard will turn to All-GLVC
performers Casey Schneider
(New Salisbury, Indiana) and Missy
Burgin (Sellersburg, Indiana) for the second and third spots.
Schneider is a two-time All-GLVC and All-Region performer who has been hampered
by a stress fracture during the summer conditioning. By the time the GLVC
Championships roll around, Schneider is expected to be USI’s number two runner.
Burgin is coming off a stellar freshman campaign that saw her earn GLVC
“Freshman of the Year” honors in the fall. She finished ninth at the league meet
last season and will be a key factor in how successful this USI squad will be in
2004.
With the top three spots solidified in the USI lineup, Hillyard has an idea that
the top seven will be filled out by seniors
Laura Helhowski (Hebron,
Indiana) and Cassie Bartelt
(Huntingburg, Indiana) as well as juniors Lydia Flora (North Manchester,
Indiana) and Jenny Finch
(Warsaw, Indiana).
Helhowski was a top five runner for the Eagles three times and finished in USI’s
top seven in five races last season. She finished 11th, just one spot and seven
seconds shy of All-GLVC honors, at the league meet last fall.
Bartelt finished in USI’s top seven in seven of eight races last fall and was
25th at the GLVC Championships last fall. Flora came on late in the season to
become a top-seven runner for the Eagles in 2003, finishing 22nd at the league
meet last fall, while Finch placed 36th as a sophomore at the GLVC
Championships.
USI will start the season September 4 with a meet at cross-town rival University
of Evansville before taking part in the Indiana Intercollegiate September 17.
The Eagles will host the Stegemoller Classic, which is expected to have between
15 and 20 teams for both the men and women’s races, for the first time in two
years on September 25.
Two weeks later, the Eagles will have an opportunity to run on the host course
for the 2004 NCAA II Great Lakes Regional Championships when they compete in the
Border Wars in Edwardsville, Illinois.
This year’s GLVC Championships will be hosted by Northern Kentucky University in
Highland Heights, Kentucky, and will be an 8k course, as opposed to the 10k
course it has been in recent years.
