UH runners finish 1-2 in WAC

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

University of Hawai'i runners Cheryl Smith and Casey McGuire-Turcotte turned in the top two individual performances and the Wahine placed fourth overall in yesterday's Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships at Kane'ohe Klipper Golf Course.

The numbers tell the story for Hawai'i's Cheryl Smith and Casey McGuire-Turcotte at yesterday's Western Athletic Cross Country Championships. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Tulsa finished first in the women's division with five runners among the top 27 in the field of 73. Underscoring the competitiveness of the event, the Golden Hurricane's 80 total points was the highest winning score in the history of the WAC Championships. (The top five runners from each team count toward team scoring).

Rice finished second with a score of 89, followed by Nevada (101) and Hawai'i (102).

In the men's 8-kilometer race, Texas-El Paso's Bashar Ibrahim (24:58.7) held off SMU teammates David Gerych (25:10.9) and Dalibor Balgac (25:41.3) to win.

Rice placed first in the men's team standings with a total score of 51, just ahead of UTEP (54). SMU (66) finished third followed by Tulsa (70). Hawai'i does not have a men's cross country team.

"I'm really pleased with their effort," said Wahine head coach Carmyn James. "They looked really, really strong. This was a dress rehearsal for the regionals (Nov. 10) so we can have the team as prepared as possible."

Smith owned the women's race almost from the start. She broke ahead of the pack in the first 800 meters and stretched her lead to more than 20 seconds by the half-way point.

"It's the new game plan for this year," Smith said. "Last year I started out more conservatively. This year, (associate coach Andy McInnis') strategy is to go out fast and hold it. It works."

But it wasn't easy. Five minutes into the race, the warm, humid weather turned, buffeting the runners in a burst of wind and rain.

"It was was scary," Smith said. "It started in the first 1000 meters and it was like 'oh no,' because once the rain started, the wind did, too. It made things triply hard."

With Smith in command of the race, McGuire-Turcotte and Van Rooyen battled for second. Coming off the final turn, McGuire-Turcotte hit the burners.

"Coming off that little sand trap before the last green, I knew I was a senior, I knew I had done this before, I knew I was ready," McGuire-Turcotte said. "I wanted it."

Doubled over with fatigue after the race, Smith looked over her shoulder to see McGuire-Turcotte finish behind her.

"That's been our dream — finishing first and second," Smith said. "It's what we practice for."

The two sub-18 minute finishes were impressive given the difficulty of the hilly course, but, as McGuire-Turcotte said, "this race wasn't about times, it was about places."

And the places given up between the two seniors and the rest of the squad proved costly. Courtney Barlow finished 26th overall. The other Wahine runners finished 36th, 37th, 39th, 43rd and 69th, meaning the Wahine scores totalled: 1, 2, 26, 36 and 37 for 102 points.

"The points that Cheryl and Casey got us were eaten away," McInnis said. "We needed more finishers in the 20s."

Said Rice head coach Jim Bevan: "There were five teams in there fighting hard. This is probably the highest point total ever to win, and probably the closest the top five teams will ever be in the WAC."

James said the race, which does not factor in to NCAA Championships consideration, provided a good learning experience for the team heading into the regionals.

"In cross country it's team effort," James said. "It's up to all of them to do their job. Who knows, maybe we can get in (to the NCAAs) as one of the top teams in the regionals or as one of the teams selected at-large. I'm definitely pleased with what we did today."

Ibrahim said he struggled with yesterday's heat and humidity in the men's race. But the Kuwait-born runner opened a 50- meter lead over Gerych at the midpoint of the race and held on down the stretch.

"It's a difficult course," he said. "The hills didn't bother me, but it was very humid."