With the season ending in a mediocre performance at the Midwest Regionals on Nov. 12, the Northwestern women’s cross country team had a lot to be disappointed about.
Junior Rachel Evjen, the team’s top runner, missed a chance to reach to the NCAA championships despite finishing seventh at the race. Last year, she placed 11th and advanced.
“The biggest disappointment was not making it to nationals,” Evjen said of the 2001 season.
But the disappointments arrived for NU even before the season began. The Cats had to deal with losing two consistent scorers to injuries.
“We had some pretty high goals,” head coach Amy Tush said. “(Sophomore) Emily Blakeslee and (senior) Laura Evans ran last year and qualified for us. With them missing, it shows that you never know with cross country. It changes from year to year.”
Sometimes even the races were cause for concern. Competing at the Pre-National Invitational in mid-October, the Cats were boxed in early, putting them in a virtual standstill 600 meters into the race. Large, crowded races were common for the squad that wore yellow ribbons during races to keep track of each other.
But it wasn’t all bad for a team that was anticipated to make it to NCAAs before the beginning of the season. It was also a year of firsts. In her first year as head coach, Tush took a growing team from the April Ecke era and molded it into her own.
“It’s been a very rewarding experience to be a Big Ten coach,” Tush said. “We’ve had fun. One thing we need to work on for next year is goal setting. It’s definitely important to place at districts and Big Tens.”
Evjen, who led the Cats in every race this year, became the first NU runner ever to be named first-team All-Big Ten. Not far behind her was freshman Diana Hossfeld, who earned second-team All-Big Ten honors and was a nice surprise, consistently placing second on the team at races.
“Diana ran so well this year as a freshman,” Evjen said. “She now has a year under her belt.”
Right now NU is in their active rest part of the season. In two weeks, the runners will increase the pace of their workouts and mileage to prepare for races in the spring. Tush said the difference between spring races and the cross country season is the emphasis on individual performance.
“They may not compete at the same meets,” Tush said. “It’s more of an individual type thing than a team one.”
During the season, the Cats often stressed the importance of running together. Practice workouts were modeled for running in pairs. A runner would find a partner to run with and the pairs would motivate each other to improve times, Tush said. To be able to run with that same person during a Saturday race was a goal NU was pushing for to lower the time gap between the first- and fifth-place runners.
But time and time again, the Cats had difficulty running together. Evjen, Hossfeld and junior Karen Rogers would come through the finish line in descending order with the last two scoring spots changing all the time. The time gap between the first and fifth runners improved during the season, but not enough to give the team a sufficient boost to finish in the top three teams at the most important race of the year.
“When it came down to it, everything had to be laid on the floor on that day or it wasn’t going to fall into your favor,” Evjen said. “We were so close to making it to nationals a year ago. That was our goal for this year and it was a realistic goal.”
For senior Sara Jurek, this was her final season running for the Cats. As the only top scorer not returning, Tush will have a similar team to work with next year that will include Blakeslee and Evans, adding more power to an already strong unit. And the team won’t have to deal with coaching distractions during the summer. With Tush’s feet firmly planted, the Cats will only have to worry about one thing — running.
“I’d love to make it to nationals my senior year,” Evjen said. “(After this season), it just shows that every year is different. When teams change and runners get injured, anything can happen.”
