With all respect to Chad Lindskog’s Web exclusive, I didn’t think The Post’s recap of last Saturday’s Mid-American Conference Cross Country Championships gave the race its due attention.
There were four outstanding individual performances during the weekend, including juniors Tyler Ames and Noah Howkins, respective 10th and 14th finishes, which earned 2nd All-MAC team honors. Both runners averaged weekly mileage in the 90s this past summer, including multiple 100-mile weeks.
The ratio of miles they ran in preparation for the five miles they raced last weekend is about 180-to-1.
Also credit sophomore Emily Pifer, who finished seventh overall to make the All-MAC First Team. Even more impressive was Pifer’s resurgence after falling during the second mile and moving back up from 14th place to hold off Miami University’s first place finisher by a mere three seconds. Any Ohio athlete who works that hard to beat a Miami athlete deserves the respect of all Bobcats.
But no performance was more impressive than sophomore Juli Accurso’s school-record win in the women’s 6k race. Runners such as Ari Fisher, the 26th fastest girl at the national cross-country championships last year, and Charnele Lyons, a 4:30 miler, ran to the front as fast as they could to build a 21-second gap between Accurso and themselves by the end of the first mile.
Unfortunately for them, Accurso closed the gap within the next mile and built a 10 second gap on the field in the last mile and three quarters of the race. Her 20:35.3 time averages out to 5:31 per mile for 3.7 miles.
As any reporter who attended the meet could tell you, the lead runners started gasping for air within minutes after the gun went off, having clearly set a far too ambitious pace. Meanwhile, the only time Accurso looked uncomfortable came after she crossed the finish line and tried to deflect the attention onto her teammates, humble and kind girl that she is.
Much of that attention came from other MAC coaches, who couldn’t believe a sophomore had just dominated the field. Just as opposing teams must adjust their game plans for Noah Keller, Taylor Brown and D.J. Cooper, now every MAC runner will know they are never safe if Juli Accurso is racing.
Dan Quarfoot is a senior studying journalism and a member of the men’s
cross-country team.
