Razorbacks look to take regional

By: Harold McIlvain II

Posted: 11/14/08

After winning a third-straight Southeastern Conference championship, the No. 12 Arkansas women's cross country team will look to keep positive momentum going Saturday for the NCAA South Central Regional Championships, Arkansas head coach Lance Harter said.

But Harter said the team faces a challenge in running back-to-back races on the shortest schedule this year.

"After the win at the SEC Championships, we are really excited," Harter said. "We have some real positive momentum individually and as a team. We want to try to continue that momentum, but at the same time this will be the closest we run back-to-back races."

Harter said the team had to be careful with its race plan during preparation for the event, especially after competing on a course last week that was difficult.

"That course ended up beating up both the men and women's team," Harter said. "We ended up having to take more recovery time, because it was so physically challenging. But this is the time of the year you can afford to do that."

Harter said the course in Waco, Texas, should be better for the team compared to last week.

With the top two teams at the event earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, Arkansas will look to secure its postseason birth in a field that includes No. 18 Baylor, No. 19 SMU and No. 22 Rice.

But with Arkansas having a solid case for an at-large bid, Harter said the team will look to win the region but try not to overextend themselves, as the ultimate goal is the national championship, he said.

Although the team won its 13th SEC championship last week, Harter said the team has room for improvement.

"I think our fourth and fifth runners were way too far back," Harter said. "I think our front three had good races. But Dacia Perkins ended up having a real bad side ache [early in the race]. We basically had Jillian Rosen kind of run with her to make sure they got through it together."

Harter said the performances were not indicative of what the two are capable of heading into regional.

Coming off a personal-best 6,000-meter time of 20:07.26, sophomore Catherine White will look to lead the team after finishing first in the field last week.

"She has proven to be our leader this year on the course," Harter said. "She leads by example and shares that leadership role with our three seniors. Her development has been like a skyrocket. Every week she gets better and better."

Harter said he has been impressed with White's ability to set and accomplish goals.

"I think she just has a good perspective and goals that match that perspective," Harter said. "She knows realistically she can do things, but she just needs to evolve and not get her expectations out of whack."

The maturity and the ability White has to listen to her body have helped the team this year, Harter said.

"She really makes good decisions," Harter said. "During Saturday's workout, she was really, really hurting. She came to us and said, 'I don't know if this workout is going to work for me right now.' Everyone else had kind of recovered, but she was still beat up."

Harter said Saturday was compromised a little bit, but it ended up helping her as she bounced back Monday and looked glorious, he said.

"That is a unique experience for a coach," Harter said. "Sometimes [athletes] think they need to try to muscle through it. But all of a sudden on Monday, they can't do anything."

Freshman Samantha Learch earned SEC All-Freshman honors and stepped up for the team last week, finishing as Arkansas' seventh runner and was the fourth freshman overall to finish.

"It was nice to see a freshman break into the top seven," Harter said. "In August, I wouldn't think any freshman would make it. I thought if there was going to be anyone we redshirted this year, it would have been Learch. But she came right into training camps with a lot grit and desire."

Last year, Arkansas finished second at the regional, beating out Baylor by five points while Rice won the event.