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Oct. 27, 1997
Texas Tech Cross Country Set for Big 12 Championships
Teams Make Trail for the 1997 Big 12 Championships The Red Raiders top runners will be challenging the field this weekend. On the women's side, sophomores Leigh Daniel, Dawn Charlier, Tara Hangge, Keeli Hanzelka, Kristen Koppes and Courtney Nolen will compete, along with junior Evette Turner and senior Lori Knowles. For the men, junior Alex Aldaco, senior Jason Winkle, freshman Scott Rackers, and sophomores David Leigh, Dan Miller, and Jessie Williams are slated to run. Admission is free for the event.
Looking Back at the Innaugural Meet Texas Tech saw young squads compete in the 1996 championships. Five of the seven runners who competed for the Red Raiders' women's team were freshman. Kristen Koppes led the women's squad, finishing 16th with a time of 18 minutes, 38 seconds. Leigh Daniel was close behind for 20th in 18:41. The women finished in 9th place with 211 points. Another freshman at the time, David Leigh, paced the Texas Tech men's squad last year. His time of 27:01 was good for 55th place. The team finished 12th with 302 points.
Hungry for Highlight Feed
For Your Information
Leigh-ders of the Pack
Turner's Time
Sophomore Strategy
NCAA Vision This year, the NCAA Div. I Championships will be run at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina on Nov. 24. The top teams and runners from the District championships will advance to the national meet.
Big 12 in the Polls From the Martin Surfacing NCAA Div. I men's national polls from Oct. 20, Colorado was ranked No. 4, Oklahoma State was at No. 13 and Missouri sat at 15. Nebraska, Iowa State, and Texas all received votes.
The Times are Changing Sholars has been joined this year by Trece Hayslett and Darrel Robinson. Hired as track and field assistants, both have taken on additional duties with the cross country teams as well. Hayslett has been with the program since August and Robinson moved on last week. Quotes from head coach Greg Sholars "We're really excited about this year's Big 12 Cross Country meet, especially on the women's side. We've had a really good cross country season this year as far as the women are concerned. We've had outstanding leadership from Leigh Daniel, who's from right here in Lubbock, Texas. She's been our front runner all year long, and we're hoping that she will make a strong run at the conference meet and prepare herself to go back and represent us at the NCAA Cross Country Championships again. "We've also had an opportunity to add Evette Turner, who is a junior college transfer from Barton County Community College. She joined us here at the last minute in August and has come in and developed herself as our second runner. She has given us that added punch that we need that we believe will at least take us to the top half of the Big 12, and for our cross country team, that's a definite step in the right direction. "On our men's side, we're still going to be a little shaky. We have David Leigh, who was our number one runner last year as a freshman and is returning, and is again our number one runner as a sophomore. We are short two young men that we thought would definitely come in and make an impact and help us out this year. But, we'll be looking forward to them adding depth in our distance program in the indoor and outdoor seasons. "The big highlight will definitely be the women at the meet. Rounding out our top three will be Kristen Koppes, who is a sophomore on our cross country team. We think she is definitely going to be a possible top 20 finisher at the cross country championships. On Leigh Daniel: "A word that would best describe her would be spunky. She played all sports, tennis, basketball, you name it, she did it in high school. She's come here in only her second year to be running at the collegiate level and her third year running at all. She has no limitations as to how good she can be athletically, just as far as her abilities are concerned. But, the big excitement is her mentality. She's a big fireball. When you see her go out and compete, you know she’s not to be denied. She's run some outstanding performances, she's gotten better and better and PR'd throughout the season, and she's still very unsatisfied. To know her is to truly understand the excitement about cross country, because it's kind of one of those 'anything goes' deals where you just get out and go for it. That's Leigh Daniel, she's definitely a go-getter on the cross country course. 1997 Schedule & Results Date Event Site Men: Top Finisher (Pl) Women: Top Finisher (Pl) Sept. 6 Red Raider Invitational Lubbock, TX--Mae Simmons Park 3rd: Scott Rackers(6) 1st: Leigh Daniel (1) Sept. 20 SMU Invitational Dallas, TX--Norbuck Park 6th (D. I): David Leigh (19) 2nd (D. I): Leigh Daniel (3) Sept. 26 Kachina Classic Las Cruces, NM--New Mexico St. C.C. Course 2nd: Jesse Williams (3) 2nd: Keeli Hanzelka (4) Oct. 4 Cowboy Jamboree (OSU) Stillwater, OK--Kaye Barrett Droke T&F Center 16th: David Leigh (65) 3rd: Leigh Daniel (4) Oct. 11 Red Raider Classic Lubbock, TX--Mae Simmons Park 6th: Scott Rackers (21) 5th: Evette Turner (1) Oct. 18 Texas A&M Invitational College Station, TX--University Golf Course 11th: David Leigh (39) 2nd: Leigh Daniel (3) Nov. 1 Big 12 Championships (OSU) Stillwater, OK--Oklahoma State Univ. CC Course Nov. 15 NCAA District 7 Championships Riverdale, UT--Riverside Golf Course Nov. 24 NCAA Championships Greenville, SC--Furman Univ. C.C. Course Women's Big 12 Championships Roster Name Ht. Cl. Home Town / Last School Major Dawn Charlier 5-3 So. Green Bay, Wis./Green Bay East HS Undecided Leigh Daniel 5-4 So. Lubbock, Texas/Monterey HS Res, Hotel, Inst. Mgmt. Tara Hangge 5-5 So. Richland, Wash./Eisenhower HS Family Studies Keeli Hanzelka 5-11 So. La Porte, Texas/LaPorte HS Pre-Med Lori Knowles 5-3 Sr. Ft. Worth, Texas/Richland HS Art History & PR (Dbl.) Kristen Koppes 5-6 So. Redding, Calif./Foothill HS Civil Engineering Courtney Nolen 5-9 So. Houston, Texas/Langham Creek HS Pre-Physical Therapy Evette Turner 5-5 Jr. Trelawny, Jamaica/Jere Technical HS Elementary Education Women's Season Results Name 9/6 9/20 9/26 10/4 10/11 10/18 Dawn Charlier 6-21:12 21-18:43 --- 27-19:03 --- 17-18:12 Leigh Daniel 1-19:09 4-17:41 --- 4-18:02 --- 3-17:23 Tara Hangge 3-20:32 27-19:08 --- 37-19:17 --- 30-18:39 Keeli Hanzelka 8-21:32 35-19:36 6-21:12 53-19:39 --- 51-19:15 Lori Knowles 5-20:59 23-19:00 --- --- --- 61-19:28 Kristen Koppes 2-19:53 10-18:11 --- 13-18:26 --- 11-17:51 Courtney Nolen 10-22:11 86-21:42 --- 70-20:24 --- 58-19:27 Evette Turner --- --- --- 14-18:33 1-19:24 5-17:40 Men's Big 12 Championships Roster Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Home Town / Last School Major Alex Aldaco 5-7 138 Jr Denton, Texas/Aubrey HS Exercise & Sports Sci. David Leigh 5-10 135 So. Grapevine, Texas/Grapevine HS Marketing Dan Miller 6-0 145 Jr. Media, Penn./Penncrest HS Biochemistry Scott Rackers 5-11 157 Fr. Plano, Texas/Plano East HS Business Jessie Williams 5-8 140 So. Rantoul, Ill./Rantoul Township HS Exercise & Sports Sci. Jason Winkle 6-3 145 Sr. Deer Park, Texas/Deer Park HS Chem. Engineering Men's Season Results Name 9/6 9/20 9/26* 10/4 10/11 10/18 Alex Aldaco 7-28:59 78-29:05 14-26:58 84-27:59 --- 56-27:14 David Leigh 20-30:33 54-28:14 5-25:31 65-27:18 --- 39-26:43 Dan Miller 16-30:08 91-29:26 --- 100-29:30 --- --- Scott Rackers 6-28:58 85-29:19 --- 82-28:13 19-28:05 46-26:53 Jessie Williams --- 81-29:06 3-25:21 94-28:49 --- 81-28:01 Jason Winkle 12-29:33 57-28:22 7-25:49 79-27:46 --- 59-27:17 *Course was 7.5K. All others were 8K distances.
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