MILWAUKEE -- What a difference a year makes. After finishing 11th out of the 11 Northern Athletics Conference teams eligible to compete for a team score at last season's NAC women's cross country championship, the Alverno College squad has consistently been placing in front of a few of its league rivals in its meets up to this point in the season with hopes of carrying over those strong performances into the 2009 NAC Championship this Saturday, Oct. 31, at Concordia University Wisconsin. Meet start time for the 6K distance is set for 11 a.m. in Mequon, Wis.
The program's highest team finish at a NAC Championship was a seventh place effort out of nine teams in 2006, a spot the squad is on track to match, if not break, on Saturday.
With the speedy times of junior Sarah Olson (Oconomowoc, Wis.) freshman Katie Renteria (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) and senior Kelly Schmidt (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI), the Inferno have placed ahead of MSOE all three times the teams have faced this season, a first for the program. The squad also beat out Benedictine University by two places at the Warrior Invitational on Oct. 3, as the Inferno scored their highest team finish of the season, tying for seventh place with Maranatha Baptist with 225 points.
As Alverno and Maranatha have consistently finished closely all season, with the Inferno coming out ahead twice, Alverno head coach Tim Hanson zeros in on the Crusaders as the team his squad needs to be sure to beat on Saturday.
"We've finished ahead of Maranatha Baptist fairly consistently throughout the season, but we've never beaten them at the conference meet before," Hanson said, as Maranatha was eighth at last year's championship. "It's hard to tell exactly where teams are going to match up because not all of the conference schools have been together at the same meet all year. It's hard to tell where we fit in there, but I would guess that we'll be seventh, eighth or ninth in the conference."
Alverno has not faced Aurora University at all this year, and has only had one chance to size up the runners from Dominican University and Concordia University Chicago back on Sept. 19 at the Falcon Invite.
Alverno's coaching staff is counting on its top three runners, Olson, Renteria and Schmidt, to maneuver the Inferno into a position to elevate the team's finish from last year, but also acknowledge that the placement of senior Anastasia Hampel (Greenfield, Wis.), freshman Andrea Vonckx (Milwaukee, Wis./Bay View) and sophomore Heather Bort (Tifton, Ga./Tift County) are also essential.
Additionally, the squad will welcome a one-time performance by freshman Kayla Kennedy (Trempealeau, Wis./G-E-T), a talented cross country and track competitor in high school who spent the fall as a goalkeeper on Alverno's soccer team and is also a member of the basketball team.
"We’re expecting our highest team finish ever," said assistant coach Chris Young. "This year our top three are really in a position to beat a lot of people and to be in the mix with a lot of people, but obviously our No. 4, 5 and 6 runners' finishes will also be important for our team finish, so we're hoping everyone can make it to Saturday healthy and ready to go."
Olson, who turned in a top finish at last year's NAC Championship with a second place effort in 23 minutes, 9 seconds to set a school record for the 6K run, has been somewhat hampered by a nagging leg injury this season. In spite of the frustration that has come with it, she has battled through the pain to continue clocking top times for the Inferno.
Olson has finished in the top spot amongst her teammates in all but one meet this season, as Renteria claimed the No. 1 spot with an 18th place finish at the team's most recent meet - the Wisconsin Private College Championship on Oct. 17 - in a personal-best time of 25:33. Olson was 21st in a time of 25:48, her 6K PR for the season.
Renteria has even surprised herself with her performances this season, and isn't exactly sure what her secret has been to dropping over two minutes from her 6K time as the season has progressed after having to make the difficult transition from running 4K races in high school to the collegiate 5K and 6K distances.
"I don't know, I just run," she said. "I had never run a 6K before coming into this season, so I think the first race was kind of intimidating for me because of the longer distance and I didn't try as hard as I probably could have. I think I've gotten more confident with the distance and the college race itself as the season has gone on and I've been able to push myself more and pace it out better."
Renteria's accomplishments in her first year running at the college level have certainly been impressive, but she isn't satisfied with relying on the times of her previous performances to carry her through Saturday's league showdown.
"I want to get under 25 minutes because I've had goals of times to get under in mind for the 6K all season and I've been able to do that every time and keep going down in time," Renteria said. "I also try to stick with Sarah if I can."
Although adjusting from running the 4K to the 6K was difficult enough for Renteria at first, it was arguably even more difficult for Schmidt, a marathon competitor by trade. In her first year as a member of the team, Schmidt had to make just the opposite adjustment Renteria did, but has transitioned well to the shorter, faster distance to improve on her 6K time each race. At the Private College Championships, Schmidt dropped 22 seconds from her previous best at the distance to finish in 40th place with a time of 27:33.
A similar drop in time at Saturday's meet could make all the difference for the Inferno.
"I think Kelly's placement is the most crucial because if her time improves by even 30 seconds it could mean that it puts her in front of 10 people," Hanson said. "With Katie and Sarah, it could be the same situation depending on how everyone runs that day."
Hampel and Vonkcx have also erased seconds from their fastest times in recent races that will hopefully leave the pair poised to shave off even more time at the NAC Championship. Two weeks ago, both recorded their best times of the season as Hampel finished 61st in 30:23. Vonkcx, who missed all of the team's September meets due to a knee injury, finished 67th clocking 33:36.
Although Bort was forced to sit out of the team's most recent meet due to an illness, she knocked off over two minutes between the Falcon Invite on Sept. 19 and the Warrior Invitational on Oct. 3, putting her in a good position to peak at the conference meet.
Both Hanson and Young have been pleasantly surprised with how much the team has progressed and come together with the addition of just a few new runners.
"We've returned some people and we've had new people in the mix, and I would say more than other teams we've coached that this team has come together as a team very quickly," Young said. "I think it's largely because of the ability we've brought in where the new girls are at the same level running-wise. It's been a real pleasure to coach runners that have come together as a team."
Even daily workouts this season have taken on a different look, as the new additions have been able to push the veterans and vice versa.
"We've gotten to the point where we see significant improvement in the team as a whole," Hanson said. "It used to be that Chris and I could set the pace when we ran workouts with the girls, but now it's gotten to the point where we have three people that are legitimately strong conference performers that have taken it upon themselves to set the tone. Going from having one last year to having three in one year is a great improvement."
Hampel has also noticed big changes in her four years with the squad, particularly due to the influence of her new teammates this season.
"It's definitely noteworthy that we have more talent on the team this year," she said. "I've been very grateful to have the new runners on the team because I can key off them during the race instead of running so much on my own like I have in the past."
As it has been stressed all season that the conference meet is the big one to prepare for, emotions are likely to be running high for the Inferno. Renteria has dealt with a bout or two of pre-race tension herself, but it was Olson who found the words to relax her.
"Before my first race I was telling the girls how nervous I was and Sarah said, 'If you're not having fun, then there's no point in doing this,'" recalled Renteria. "It really calmed my nerves because she's right and I've remembered that since then. The mood is very different before races on this team because my high school team was really intense on the line looking at their watches, but here we joke around a little bit before to try to loosen up and we still run just fine."
Hampel is eager to see the hard work her team has put in throughout the season pay off on Saturday, and is determined to give her all in the final conference meet of her career.
"I'm really glad for the last four years I've been with this team and the improvements we've made," she said. "The coaches have been working us pretty hard leading up to this meet, and I expect to go out on a good note with a good time."
For more information on the 2009 NAC Championships, please click here.
