Oct. 24, 2000

Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Dave Campbell appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.

New Baylor cross country coach Todd Harbour this Saturday will take his Bears and Lady Bears to the running of the 2000 Big 12 Championships in Boulder, Colo., which is about like taking them to the heart of the lion's den.

If they do moderately well there, he will be moderately pleased. If they thrive, he will be overjoyed.

Where the Big 12 is concerned this year, Colorado is to cross country what Nebraska and Oklahoma are to football -- awesome.

"Colorado is the team to beat, no question," Harbour analyzed the upcoming meet. "They put all their track money into distance runners and it really shows up in cross country. Of course, Oklahoma State does virtually the same thing. Those are the top two teams."

Harbour inherited a program that saw the Baylor men's cross country team finish 11th the past two years. The Lady Bears, who are better armed (or, in this case, better legged), finished seventh in 1999.

"I TOLD OUR GUYS today that I won't be satisfied if we don't get in the top six," said Harbour one day late last week. "Our women are a little stronger but they face a greater task because the women's cross country teams in the Big 12 are very tough. I think five of them -- Colorado, Kansas State, Nebraska, A&M and Missouri -- are ranked in the national top 20. It's a tough, tough field. If we can finish in the top six, it will be a great day for our ladies."

Colorado's lead runner on the men's side, reported Harbour, has just won the crown in the individual pre-nationals, held at Iowa State. "It was a loaded field and he beat a lot of really good ones. But Colorado has a great team, top to bottom. Oklahoma State is very strong. Texas is good, Kansas is running well. But if we run well, we can move on up."

That's an immediate goal, but Harbour is also looking to the future.

"Recruiting is going very, very well," he said. "My plan is definitely to be up there in two or three years."

In previous meets this year, the Baylor men finished first in the Baylor Invitational on Sept. 23, seventh in the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater on Sept. 30, they were unplaced in the North Texas Invitational in Denton when they did not run as a team on Oct. 6, and eighth in the Chili Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark., on Oct. 14.

FERENC BEKESI, a sophomore from Hungary, has emerged as Harbour's lead runner although, as the coach points out, "Those guys have all run well at different times, first one and then someone else. But we haven't had a time where they have ALL run well at the same time. I would hope they all run well at Boulder."

Bekesi has finished second, 24th and 31st in his three meets. Sophomore Alex Adler from Austin has finished third, 57th and 95th. Matt Chance, a freshman from Colleyville who probably ranks as the No. 2 runner behind Bekesi, has finished ninth, 51st and 60th. Jon Capron, a junior from Albuquerque, has finishes of seventh, 80th and 77th. And Josh Ward, a senior from Waco, has finished 14th, 56th and 85th.

Freshman Nick Devenport, from North Mesquite, provides an interesting story. He returned only late last week from Santiago, Chile, where he competed in the IAAF Junior World Track Championships. He survived the first round of very strong competition in the 800 meters but then was eliminated in the race to determine the finalists, finishing seventh in his heat with a time of 1:52.81.

"NICK IS SUCH a great prospect," said Harbour. "He wanted to do this (compete in the competition in Santiago) and it pretty well shot his cross country season, but the experience was good for him. And he's going to run for us in Boulder. Nick can be tremendous. He has those intangibles and he's such a competitor. He's running better than I did at this stage of his career (and Harbour went on to become a world class runner). I have no doubt he will become a 4-minute miler, it's just a case of when."

So Devenport will be competing for the Bears in Boulder, and so will freshman Tristan Eager from Euless (finished 17th at North Texas), freshman Blair Mathews from Amarillo (24th in the Baylor Invitational), freshman Bill Thomas from Pittsburgh, Pa. (29th in Waco and 18th at North Texas) and junior Aaron Ward from Sulphur Springs (eighth at North Texas).

In other words, they've all finished high and they've all finished low. Harbour longs for some consistency and high finishes from what is essentially a very young team.

"WE CAN RUN nine and we only have to count the top five," he said. "And in cross country it usually comes down to your fifth runner and how he does."

Paced by Kara Newton, a junior from Amarillo, and Stephanie Bennett, a sophomore from Canada (British Columbia), the Lady Bears are formidable in their top two positions. Newton has finishes of 19th, first and ninth in her three meets this fall. Bennett has finished fourth, 19th and 10th.

Harbour looks to junior Kim Cook from Escondido, Calif., soph Leah Marbach from Kingswood and soph Erin Dixon from Kingswood as his next three runners although Dixon has been hurt. "She's training hard. If she's healthy, she can be our third runner," he said. Cook has finishes of 22nd, 27th and 25th. Dixon has been 53rd, 10th and 80th. Marbach has been seventh, 18th, third and 41st. More inconsistency but also more high finishes.

Rounding out the Lady Bear squad are freshman Katherine Duncan from Roscoe (has a best finish of 36th), fresh Hannah Lodwick from Bend, Ore., (18th) and freshman Meagan McCoin from Houston (seventh at North Texas, 31st in the Baylor meet, but 107th in Arkansas).

In cross country competition, it's important to do well at the conference meet, but as far as competing nationally is concerned, it's most important to do well in the regional qualifying scheduled for Nov. 11. All teams advance to regional regardless of how they do at the conference meet. But at the regional level, only the top two finishers, plus 13 teams chosen from an at-large pool, advance to the NCAA National Championships on Nov. 20.

"You need to beat a ranked team or two to have a chance to be chosen as an at-large team," said Harbour. "And so far, we haven't beaten a ranked team this fall."

So that also will be a major goal for the Baylor teams in the Boulder meet this weekend.

Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Dave Campbell appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.

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