Lipscomb’s Lady Bisons cross-country team, which for a couple of weeks has been able to savor the A-Sun championship, now must turn the page and be ready for Saturday’s NCAA South Regional at the Harry Pritchett Course in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Regardless, they take a load of pride into the event. After the A-Sun title race, coach Bill Taylor had a big smile on his face.
“We’ve had the best four weeks of practice I’ve ever seen. I gave each of them a plan to be successful and they followed it,” he said. Of course they didn’t have any time to slack off that work.
Still, while they are moving on, these young women can reflect on their winning experience of that day of A-Sun glory.
“Remember your ‘I wills,’ remember the sweat and tears you have put into this season. Remember your teammates and most of all remember to believe in yourself, because if you do that you are capable of anything.”
This was what Amanda Twigg, a junior history education major from Cumberland, Md., said to a few of her teammates minutes before the 2011 A-Sun cross-country conference championship race started.
Moments later the runners were off, running a race they will never forget.
That Saturday morning, on their home Vaughn’s Gap course at Percy Warner Park, they won the 2011 Atlantic Sun title, with an accumulated score of 53 points, defeating defending champion North Florida by 16 points.
Lipscomb was the only school to place six runners in the top 20 finishers.
This is the first time A-Sun conference title for the Lady Bisons cross-country team.
Sophomore Tessa Hoefle finished first for the Lady Bisons, with a time of 17:58.30, putting her in fifth-place overall.
Ashley Lehman, a senior, running her last A-Sun Championship race, was close behind setting a personal best of 17:58.40s.
These ladies are the first pair of Lipscomb teammates to ever be named to the all-conference first team.
“As a team, we’ve been working so hard all season to win the conference title,” said Lehman, an elementary education major from Harrisonburg, Va.
“This was the first race that we have run as a strong, united pack. We were nervous going into the race, but confident in the fact that Vaughn’s Gap is our course, and no one knows it as well as we do.
“There was so much communication throughout the race, and we were able to put ourselves in a great position. North Florida never had the chance to control the race, and it was a great feeling to be able to have that control as a team. I was so happy to be a part of the first-ever conference championship cross-country team from Lipscomb.
“Every year since my freshman year we’ve tried to win the title, but have always fallen just a little bit short. It was such an amazing feeling to have all of those years of hard work pay off. As an individual, I was so excited to make the first team all-conference.
“Last year I was on the second team, but I didn’t really expect to be on the first team this year. Running with Tessa during the race really pushed me, because we work together really well. Also, my goal before graduating was to run a cross-country race under 18 minutes, and I was 17:58 on Saturday.
“That was another accomplishment that made the day a perfect last conference race. It was hard to think after the race that it was my last one on that Vaughn’s Gap course. That has been my favorite course all throughout my years here at Lipscomb.”
Minna Fields, a freshman social work major from Stanwood, Wash., finished ninth overall in her very first A-Sun championship race. Running a personal best of 18:04:50, Fields received second-team all-conference honors and made the all-freshman team.
“We accomplished what we’ve been focusing, preparing and training for since the season began,” said Fields.
“We knew exactly what we were supposed to go out there and do and we did it. The conference meet was so exciting.
“It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, the way we ran as a pack, communicated and ran our hearts out for each other was amazing. Not to mention all the support we got from our teammates that made a huge impact.”
Finishing 16th with a personal best of 18:14:60 was Missy Dowd, a sophomore Elementary Education major from Duvall, Wash. “The conference meet was unreal,” said Dowd.
“Not in the sense that I was surprised to win, but everything about it was so great and seemed way too good to be true.
“It was a true underdog story, seeing as the team we beat to get first was ranked fourth in the region and last year, we placed ninth. I will never forget the feeling of accomplishment and the relief I saw on the faces of my teammates after our win. We put in work, day in and day out to have reached this goal and all the work that has led up to this meet finally paid off.
“It feels great to be a part of a team that has worked so hard and lived up to what we said we were going to accomplish.”
Freshman Maggie Lawrence finished 17th with a time of 18:16.80 in her very first conference race.
Not only did Lawrence receive her personal best time, she also joined teammate Minna Fields on the all-freshman team.
Finishing 20th with a time of 18:35.80 was senior Catherine Beals. She and junior teammate Emily Longden, who finished 21st with a time of 18:41.10, were vital participants in the race by taking important points away from Belmont and North Florida.
“Conference was a great race. Everyone truly gave everything they had and I’m so blessed to not only be able to run with, but to be friends with the beautiful girls on our team. It was amazing to see how every single girl ran for the glory of god and praised him through the talents he has given us. I couldn’t ask for a better team,” said Longden, a junior elementary education major from Jacksonville, Fla.
Beals, a political science major from Glasgow, Ky. Said: “Ever since freshman year I have always strived for this program to win a conference title. Now, after four years of hard work and dedication, that goal is a reality. It is uplifting to know that we have been a part of something great, because I can say with conviction that this is only the beginning ….
“Soon enough people everywhere will know exactly who the Lady Bisons are. The conference meet … was actually the first race the team truly ran as a pack.
“I must say that it was one of the best feelings ever, being able to race with my teammates. I even found myself smiling during the race because it was so much fun.”
Senior Louisa Van Batavia, an exercise science major from Salem, Ore., aided the team in the win by finishing with a time of 18:50.20. Batavia was followed by sophomore Katie Bunker who finished with a time of 19:26:80.
Bunker, a chemistry major from Cedarville, Ohio, said: “running in the conference race this year was an amazing opportunity that I’m so happy I had. It’s what we worked for and trained so hard for all season long. It ended exactly the way we had hoped for and planned on: In a conference championship.
“No other team deserved it or wanted it more than we did. With the support of the entire team and with each other, we made it a fun race and did everything just as we needed to. We put it all out there, and it couldn’t have turned out any better.”
Now, the wait is on to see if that winning determination prevails this weekend down in Crimson Tide territory.