CROSS COUNTRY: Cross country is not the most visible ofsports. The Lady Bisons rarely made it to the front page of the newspaper or consumed much of th e conversations among students around campus, but they did build a program capable of competing at the Nat ional Coll egiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division II level. In just their second year of competition in the lone Star Conference, the team placed third overall in the conference meet at Tarleton State. "Ifeltthat this season was a lot tougher," sophomore Cheri Scharff said . "The regionais this year were more like nationals last year. I liked it better because it challenged li S and made us more driven. " Scharff led the team with a time of 18047 in the three-plusmile race and finished seventh overa ll. "Conference was definitely my best meet of the yea r," she said . "I was rea lly able to get past my comfort zone and give it all I had. " Coach Bryan Philli ps said, " I was really proud of the girls at their first Lone Star Conference meet. " Other strong showings were evident in freshman Ti a Tarole a nd s ophomore s Kell y Lauterbach and Diane Grubbs , who fini shed 16th, 17th and 21st. Along with the specific goal of running in the 5K distance in the 18-minute range , the team set a more general goal o f spiritual growth thi s season. Every day before they ran, the team had a devotional , with everyone taking turns in leading the praye rs, singing and giving the lessons. "This season, we wanted to focus more on our spi rituality ," Lauterbach said. "Because of this, I think we really grew closer rogether and we were able to focus better. " "The devoti onals helped us use the ta lents God gave us, changed out atti tudes and improved LIS more than any training we could do," Scharff said. "The devotio nals gave us a common purpose and positive attitudes. When we stepped up to the starting line, we knew we could do it," Grubbs said. Because the team did hot qualify individual runners for the national meet as they did the previous year, some labeled their season a failure . Producing three of the best running times of the year in the conference, Tarole, Scharff and Lauterbach proved otherwise. "I thought that the gi rl s could've run better at regionals, but I thought that it was a good experience for them. I t's rough when you have three of the top teams in the nation running in your regional ," Phillips said. "I challenged the girls to push themselves beyond the ir normal expectations. " - Jeremy Schopper Womell'sCross CoUlltry. KellyLauterbach, ria Teuole, KatieFant, ebenSchaff!, DianeGrubbs. PhotobyJe.f{Monlgomety. fifu 218 Sports " The oevol improveo UI more than any workout or training we coulo 00. " Cluri5dlllr// SCOREBOARD Abilene 26 Angelo 53 Harding 11 4 A&M Commerce 125 Southeastern Okla . 133 WestTexasA&M 161 Tarleton 162 A&\1 Kingsville 164 East Central Okla. 226 Eastern NewMexico 234 OBU 300 CentralOkla. 300 Southwestern Okla. 345 " This season} we wanteo to focus more on our spirituality. "
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