The 2009 Sam Houston Cross Country season may have come to an end at the Southland Conference Championship, with the men finishing 8th and women finishing 9th, but head coach Jessie Parker is looking to take what was accomplished in the fall and implement it into spring outdoor track.
"We had a good, young group of athletes that were able to gain a lot of experience this fall." Parker said, "We were able to improve from last year and our athletes learned to train and compete at the collegiate level."
On the men's side the Sam Houston's top finisher at the Southland Conference Championship was sophomore Blake Woolums, with a 40th place finish. Coming right behind Woolums was sophomore Joey D'Eramo in 41st place and junior Julius Michael was 44th. Also during the year the Kats had several top 10 finishes from Patrick Krol (7th at University of Houston, 9th at Sam Houston) and Michael (10th at Sam Houston).
Sophomore Victoria Gemeny lead the Sam Houston women's team, finishing 39th at the Southland Conference Championships. Sophomore Sara Collazos was 41st and freshman Kylie Fitzgerald 42nd. The women's teams had six top 10 finishes during the regular season as well with Gemeny (10th at University of Houston, 7th at Sam Houston), Fitzgerald (6th at University of Houston, 8th at Sam Houston), and Collazos (8th at University of Houston, 10th at Sam Houston) all producing the result twice.
Since the end of the fall season, Parker's main focus is to progress into outdoor track. With the past nine months of training he believes this has provided a foundation to transition into outdoor long distance.
"During the fall, our athletes run a lot of volume so as we progress into outdoor track they are able to run the shorter races with faster times," Parker said. "Long distance cannot be an overnight success. Each season we must build on what we trained for the last."
In order for the Bearkats to have a successful outdoor season, Parker said they must have confidence in the training from the fall and be able to carry that into the spring.
The Bearkats kick off the 2010 track season with the first indoor meet Jan. 15 at the McNeese Invite in Lake Charles, La. They will begin outdoors March 26 at the Rice Bayou Invite in Houston.
