Lady Tiger cross country team poised to add more hardware
Winners of five straight conference titles, the Cowley College women's cross country team will look to continue its dominance in the conference while also attempting to capture its second national championship in the past three years.
Cowley returns seven sophomores to go along with a pair of impressive freshmen.
"We have a smaller squad, but I think we have maturity and development coming back," Rieth said.
The Lady Tigers placed fourth as a team at last year's national meet, thanks to sophomore Karissa Glover placing sixth and earning All-American honors. Glover was named the USTFCCCA Division II Central Region Female Athlete of the Year. Fellow sophomore Delicia Boothe also ran well and garnered Coaches Association All-American honors for her 19th place finish.
"Karissa is as fit as she has been since she got here," Rieth said. "It is nice having sophomores back that know what we expect. I am excited to see how the team develops."
Other sophomores on the roster are Layla Ingalls, Asaris Dandicourt-Goire, Andrea Garcia-Gonzalez, Abigail Pinnock, and Yazmin Reyes.
"We don't have depth, but I believe we have everything we need," Rieth said. "We have talent and will slowly build the team up."
The two freshmen on the team are Paula Pi-Rodriguez and Dheniffer Vaz.
"Those two are game changers," Rieth said. "Paula has the potential to be our number one runner. We just need to focus on how they respond to training, integrate them with the team, and become better together."
The Lady Tigers will open the season in Hutchinson on September 1 and will then close the regular season by competing at the Region VI/Jayhawk Conference Championships also in Hutchinson on October 28.
"I think we can be in the running for conference and region titles, but who knows what the other teams have," Rieth said. "I don't like to compare ourselves to anybody else; I want us to be the best version of ourselves."
This year's national meet will be held in Tallahassee, FL. If things go right, Cowley should be in the mix for another strong national finish.
"I want to cultivate a culture of caring and have the athletes put passion into what they are doing," Rieth said. "If we stay injury free, who knows how well we could do," Rieth said.