If the Southeastern Conference championships are the Vanderbilt women’s cross country team’s final exam, this weekend’s Pre-Nationals is a mid-term.
Led by junior phenom Kristabel Doebel-Hickok, they fully expect to pass.
The Commodores will try and continue their strong packing performances this weekend in Terre Haute, Ind. at Pre-Nationals, which will be a strong indicator of where they stand two weeks before the SEC’s.
“I think this year we have a really strong group of girls who are at about the same ability level,” Doebel-Hickok said. “We have a pack of girls that have decided they want to work together because they know it’s easier running in a pack.”
Pre-Nationals features 20 of the top 30 teams in the country, and the Commodores will try and improve on last year’s 27th place finish out of 39 teams.
Head coach Steve Keith fully expects that to happen after the progress he has seen over the last month.
“We had a certain time frame and a certain point total that we want to see improvement on,” Keith said. “We're getting close to being 100 percent but our group is in much better shape than last year, more experience. I can see us running 20-30 seconds better per person which could put us up in that top-20 for our race.”
After garnering first-place finishes at the Belmont-VU Opener and Commodore Classic at Nashville’s Percy Warner Park, and registering a sixth place finish out of 35 teams at the Greater Louisville Classic on Oct. 3, that looks like more than realistic goal.
Doebel-Hickok ran a 17:55.46 in the 5K race at Louisville to finish 17th overall out of a field of over 300 runners, and her teammates were right behind her.
Sophomores Louise Hannallah and Jordan White, freshman Allie Scalf and junior Adrienne DiRaddo all finished within 43 seconds of Doebel-Hickok at the meet.
“All of those (girls) are grouping closely,” Keith said. “Our three, four and five runners were two seconds apart last year at this rac, but they were probably 20-30 seconds slower than what I think we’ll be able to do this year.”
Pre-Nationals is a bit more of a challenge than the three meets Vanderbilt has participated in so far, with this race a 6K as opposed to a 5K.
“We need to get out and assert ourselves in a huge field,” Doebel-Hickok said. “We really need to go out there and feel what it feels like to really extend yourself for that long and really compete hard.”
