SFA Set For Southland Championships
10/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 27, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin cross country squads will kick off the most crucial part of their season Thursday when they compete in the Southland Conference Championships. The meet - hosted by Lamar this year - is the first of three consecutive events that constitute the championship portion of the 2010 slate.
SFA has raced twice over the last month, competing in the Memphis Twilight Classic and the Florida State Invitational. The early season schedule was light on racing and heavy on training with everything leading toward a strong performance at the conference and regional meets.
"From Memphis, in general, we've switched gears a little bit in terms of training," SFA head coach Lou Snelling said. "Particularly after Florida State, we've had a few high-quality workouts where we've gotten after it to help us sharpen up a bit."
The shift in training has been away from high-volume workouts and toward high-intensity practices, as the teams get closer to the most important races of the year.
"We're working different energy systems at this point," Snelling said. "We're working a little more on the anaerobic side. That's not something we do a lot of. There are very specific times of the year we'll get into that, and this is one of those times. Most of the things we did in training early in the season were focused on `control, control, control.' But in these workouts, we turn it loose and say, `let's go out and see what we can do.'"
Snelling already has a good idea of what his teams can do in championship competition. When the Ladyjacks take the line for Thursday's race, they'll do so with six returning letterwinners from last year's second-place finish and a total of three All-Southland Conference honors in cross country. The men's team is likewise heavy on experience with six upperclassmen. The Lumberjacks have also picked up three all-conference awards in the last two years.
All that experience figures to play a big role in the final results as it will take a smart race from top to bottom to put up the scores Snelling is looking for.
"Conference meets are always interesting because you're generally talking about less than 100 people in the meet," the coach said. "...Things are always going to be a little bit closer because of that."
In the women's race, Snelling thinks he will need a strong performance from his four through seven runners in order to challenge for a title.
"A lot of the teams are very good up front," he said. "Depth is going to be key to winning the team title. I definitely expect the meet to be very close. I don't see anybody blowing everyone else out of the water at all.
"We just need to take the next step in our racing. We can't go out and just be average and expect good things to happen. I feel good about where we're at in that regard. We should have our best race of the season."
The Lumberjacks are looking for their first conference title since 2005. To get it, they'll have to be at their best in all phases of the race.
"There are some very good teams out there on the men's side," Snelling said. "We're a team that is solid up front, and I think our depth is solid. But, like I've told the guys, at a meet like this, we need to be better than solid. We have to close our gaps in the back and the guys up front will have to improve. If we're going to compete, those are the kinds of things that have to happen."
The meet will be held at Bayou Din Golf Club in Beaumont, Texas. The women's 6,000-meter race starts at 9 a.m. with the men's 8,000 following at 9:45. The course is a repeating 2,000-meter loop.
-- SFA --
