Jim Bevan isn't a man consumed by doubt, so even as he prepared his collection of cross country athletes for the Islander Splash minus veterans Allison Pye and Nicole Mericle he awaited something positive, a jarring jolt of optimism in the midst of an injury-marred start.
Freshman Heather Olson obliged when she placed third overall, completed the 5K in 17:00.5 and as the first varsity competitor, and earned Athlete of the Week honors from the C-USA office. With Pye (chin splints) and Mericle (foot) lost for this cross country season, Olson provided Bevan hope that his youthful squad might ultimately develop into something formidable as the events accumulate and the weeks methodically tick off the calendar.
"When I recruited her (Olson) I expected her to have a lot of potential and to be good, but I didn't expect it right off the bat," Bevan said as he prepared to travel his team to South Bend, Ind., for Friday's Notre Dame Invitational. "She has done a tremendous job and she, I think, has the characteristics and earmarkings of someone who is going to be a great runner following in the footsteps of a lot of the great runners we've had. I'm very impressed with her."
Olson isn't alone in that regard. Freshman Joanna Ohm has flashed tremendous potential, while classmates Marie Walsh and Kathryn Zebrowski could provide sufficient depth given the opportunity they will be presented. Marie Thompson has progressed so dramatically that Bevan drew comparisons to the incredible development Britany Williams and Lennie Waite enjoyed. With Pye needing two months of rest after her chin splints responded negatively to treatment and Mericle struggling to return to form after breaking her foot in the steeplechase at the NCAA Regional in Norman, Okla., last May, Bevan needs his youngsters to step up. This squad lacks experience and might not capture the C-USA title, yet expectations remain.
"We still have a good team this year, and we still are setting the bar to try to get to the national meet," Bevan said. "It just may take a little longer this fall to see if it happens. We're going to have to do something great at regionals most likely."
The injuries to Pye and Mericle and the emergence of Olson and Ohm prompted Bevan to make an audacious move: he will redshirt Williams, a senior, and junior Becky Wade this fall. Wade and Williams ran unattached at the Islander Splash and finished first and second, respectively, but they will be shut down and initiate preparations for the indoor track season. They will train with their younger teammates and provide leadership along the way, but Bevan envisions a golden opportunity ahead in 2010, one that requires unorthodox maneuvering.
With Wade, an All-American in the 10K at the NCAA Outdoors, Williams, Pye, Mericle and the aforementioned freshman class all back next season, Bevan will field his deepest and most talent-laden cross country squad, a team that could potentially challenge for supremacy at nationals. Sitting Williams, who was raring to explode as a senior, and Wade, who arrived this semester in the best shape of her career, is a risk, but one Bevan feels is absolutely justifiable.
"This program is getting to where I was hoping it would get," Bevan said. "We have quality, we have kids that we've recruited or have already been to that level, and then we have another group that has a chance to mature and get to that level with time. We have two things going on: an experienced group, and a young group where those girls who are experienced that's where they were two or three years ago. If we can get the same type of development (from the freshmen), we can be a player at the national level. And not just to get to nationals.
"We're getting to where we can talk about us in the same sentence with (seven-time national champion) Villanova and (five-time champion) Stanford and (two-time champion) Oregon. We're getting to where we can talk about our women's cross country program at that level."
Bevan would not have hatched this plan, approved by Rice athletic director Chris Del Conte, if Pye and Mericle were healthy. And had Williams insisted on running as a fourth-year senior, Wade would have run, too. But by redshirting both, Bevan is positioning the Owls to make noise on the national level next season and beyond because Pye and Wade will be seniors in 2011 and Bevan is making inroads on the recruiting trail. The ability to develop depth - potent, quality depth - was the impetus behind this rare, but previously successful, move.
So Bevan will train his young charges to run hard and pursue lofty goals, but the success the Owls are sure to enjoy this season could merely whet the appetite for what may come. Bevan is planning to excel in the present, but the distant future is bright. There is no doubt about it.
"We want to do something great; we just don't want to do something good," Bevan said. "If we would have kept running everybody that is healthy I think we could have made it back to the national meet. But we want to make a breakthrough at the next level, not just make it to nationals, not just finish in the top 20. We want to make a breakthrough, and I feel like we need something like this to make a breakthrough. And once we make a breakthrough I'm hoping we can sustain it. I believe we can sustain it, we just need to make a breakthrough.
"This could put us over the top. This could put us where next November, we've got a shot at a trophy."
Freshman Heather Olson obliged when she placed third overall, completed the 5K in 17:00.5 and as the first varsity competitor, and earned Athlete of the Week honors from the C-USA office. With Pye (chin splints) and Mericle (foot) lost for this cross country season, Olson provided Bevan hope that his youthful squad might ultimately develop into something formidable as the events accumulate and the weeks methodically tick off the calendar.
"When I recruited her (Olson) I expected her to have a lot of potential and to be good, but I didn't expect it right off the bat," Bevan said as he prepared to travel his team to South Bend, Ind., for Friday's Notre Dame Invitational. "She has done a tremendous job and she, I think, has the characteristics and earmarkings of someone who is going to be a great runner following in the footsteps of a lot of the great runners we've had. I'm very impressed with her."
Olson isn't alone in that regard. Freshman Joanna Ohm has flashed tremendous potential, while classmates Marie Walsh and Kathryn Zebrowski could provide sufficient depth given the opportunity they will be presented. Marie Thompson has progressed so dramatically that Bevan drew comparisons to the incredible development Britany Williams and Lennie Waite enjoyed. With Pye needing two months of rest after her chin splints responded negatively to treatment and Mericle struggling to return to form after breaking her foot in the steeplechase at the NCAA Regional in Norman, Okla., last May, Bevan needs his youngsters to step up. This squad lacks experience and might not capture the C-USA title, yet expectations remain.
"We still have a good team this year, and we still are setting the bar to try to get to the national meet," Bevan said. "It just may take a little longer this fall to see if it happens. We're going to have to do something great at regionals most likely."
The injuries to Pye and Mericle and the emergence of Olson and Ohm prompted Bevan to make an audacious move: he will redshirt Williams, a senior, and junior Becky Wade this fall. Wade and Williams ran unattached at the Islander Splash and finished first and second, respectively, but they will be shut down and initiate preparations for the indoor track season. They will train with their younger teammates and provide leadership along the way, but Bevan envisions a golden opportunity ahead in 2010, one that requires unorthodox maneuvering.
With Wade, an All-American in the 10K at the NCAA Outdoors, Williams, Pye, Mericle and the aforementioned freshman class all back next season, Bevan will field his deepest and most talent-laden cross country squad, a team that could potentially challenge for supremacy at nationals. Sitting Williams, who was raring to explode as a senior, and Wade, who arrived this semester in the best shape of her career, is a risk, but one Bevan feels is absolutely justifiable.
"This program is getting to where I was hoping it would get," Bevan said. "We have quality, we have kids that we've recruited or have already been to that level, and then we have another group that has a chance to mature and get to that level with time. We have two things going on: an experienced group, and a young group where those girls who are experienced that's where they were two or three years ago. If we can get the same type of development (from the freshmen), we can be a player at the national level. And not just to get to nationals.
"We're getting to where we can talk about us in the same sentence with (seven-time national champion) Villanova and (five-time champion) Stanford and (two-time champion) Oregon. We're getting to where we can talk about our women's cross country program at that level."
Bevan would not have hatched this plan, approved by Rice athletic director Chris Del Conte, if Pye and Mericle were healthy. And had Williams insisted on running as a fourth-year senior, Wade would have run, too. But by redshirting both, Bevan is positioning the Owls to make noise on the national level next season and beyond because Pye and Wade will be seniors in 2011 and Bevan is making inroads on the recruiting trail. The ability to develop depth - potent, quality depth - was the impetus behind this rare, but previously successful, move.
So Bevan will train his young charges to run hard and pursue lofty goals, but the success the Owls are sure to enjoy this season could merely whet the appetite for what may come. Bevan is planning to excel in the present, but the distant future is bright. There is no doubt about it.
"We want to do something great; we just don't want to do something good," Bevan said. "If we would have kept running everybody that is healthy I think we could have made it back to the national meet. But we want to make a breakthrough at the next level, not just make it to nationals, not just finish in the top 20. We want to make a breakthrough, and I feel like we need something like this to make a breakthrough. And once we make a breakthrough I'm hoping we can sustain it. I believe we can sustain it, we just need to make a breakthrough.
"This could put us over the top. This could put us where next November, we've got a shot at a trophy."
Interesting use of the redshirt there. Sounds like 2010 could be a big year for Rice athletics.