Cross Country Recap

2011 Season in Review

Times continued to drop throughout the season for the members of the Saint Mary’s cross country team during the 2011 campaign. From the first 6k of the season at the MIAA Jamboree to the MIAA Championship more than a month later, each member of the team saw considerable improvement as times dropped.

In the team's first official race of the year, the Belles had a strong showing at the Wabash Hokum Karem. The duo of Joanne Almond and Julia Kenney finished fourth to help the squad to a third place finish behind only DePauw and Division II Indianapolis.

The Belles finished seventh at the MIAA Jamboree on a tough course at Trine. With one of the fastest fields in the MIAA in recent history, Joanne Almond was the team's fastest finisher at the first of the two conference races. That race would set up the team for strong individual and team efforts just a month later at the MIAA Championship race at Alma. Each member of the team took more than a minute of her time from the MIAA Jamboree at the championship race at the end of October, and three harriers registered new 6k personal record times at the event as the Belles matched their finish from the Jamboree.

The same trend took place for the Belles after racing in the Oberlin College Inter-Regional Rumble in mid-October. The team finished tied for 18th place at the pre-regional meet while getting firsthand experience on the NCAA Regional course. Less than a month later, the most of the members of the Belles squad participating in the NCAA event shaved significant time off their 6k performance at the inter-regional race, which included a pair of new PRs.

By the end of the season, Joanne Almond, Sarah Copi, and Colette Curtis had each established more than one PR. Almond, who was the team's top finisher at every race of the season, set personal records at Calvin as well as at the final two races of the year. In her final 6k for the Belles, the senior cracked into the 22-minute realm for the first time ever. Copi earned back-to-back PRs midway through the season at the Sean Earl Invitational and the Inter-Regional Rumble. Curtis, meanwhile, picked up PRs at Calvin and the MIAA Championship.