SFA Set For Cowboy Jamboree
10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 1, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Technically, the Stephen F. Austin cross country program opened the 2009 season a month ago at the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islander Relays. Philosophically, the "real" races won't start for another month, with the Southland Conference Championships. But when the Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks toe the line Saturday at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree, it will mark their first true opportunity for competition this fall, and that's something head coach Lou Snelling is looking forward to.
"This is our first real race of the year," Snelling said, "and there will be some great competition there. This should be a great chance to see where we're at early in the season."
The Cowboy Jamboree is the longest-running continuous annual meet in the country, with Saturday's race marking the 73rd incarnation of the event. More than 2,500 athletes have been entered in the various collegiate and prep divisions. The university division includes three top 15 teams on the men's side (Oklahoma State, 2; Northern Arizona, 5; and William and Mary, 13) and two nationally ranked programs in the women's race (Northern Arizona, 16; and Texas Tech 30).
Saturday's race will close out the sixth week of practice for the SFA squads. The first five weeks were dedicated to developing a strong base of fitness for the upcoming season. This last week of training has seen the volume remain static, while Snelling has dialed down the intensity a little, in preparation for the weekend's competition.
"Training up to this point has gone really well," the coach said. "Our big goal was daily consistency in this first five-week block. It wasn't about any one big day in the five weeks, it was about hitting it hard every day during this five-week stretch.
"We've been consistent, and we're very fit right now. We're not very sharp yet, as far as racing goes, because we haven't done any real racing. But we're fit enough to go out and put on a good performance as a team."
On an individual level, Snelling is encouraged by the continued strong performances of his top runners -- junior Amy Shackelford and sophomore Stephanie Ganter on the women's side and senior Keith Mahipala, junior Dennis Yeats and sophomore Mitch Ownbey for the Lumberjacks.
"Stephanie and Shack are both really fit right now," the coach said. "They've had some great workouts, and we're expecting big things out of them this season.
"Mitch, Dennis and Keith are all really solid and should be able to finish within 15 or 20 seconds of each other and near the top of the field in any race we run. We also have better depth on the men's team this year, which is always nice."
Saturday's race will serve as a transition between the early-season training schedule and the teams' march toward the championship portion of their season. The results from Stillwater will give Snelling an idea of what kind of adjustments need to be made to help carry his squads through the end of the year.
"We're just looking for something we can build on going into that next block of training and into the rest of the season," Snelling said.
-- SFA --
