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Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm women's cross country team came within a whisker of appearing in the NAIA Championships in 2009 and nearly everyone is back for a run at it in 2010. Rio Grande was the Mid-South Conference runner-up a season ago and has been picked third this season.
Rio Grande had two individuals race at the NAIA Meet in Stacey Arnett (Laurelville, OH) and Kayla Renner (Galloway, OH). Renner is back while Arnett has used up all of her eligibility.
"Stacey has used up all of her eligibility, we're going to lose her," Rio Grande head coach Bob Willey said. "She was a huge force for us last year, but we've got everyone else back and we've picked up a couple of freshmen that will help us."
Rio will have two seniors in Hillary Haines (McConnellsville, OH) and Beth Hysell (Pomeroy, OH).
Renner and junior Cassie Mattia (West Chester, OH) will most likely be the top runners based on performances from last season. "They train side-by-side, when we're doing our interval training, they're usually right there together talking to one another, encouraging one another and of course they're working at trying to get Amy (Lower) as close to them as possible as well," Willey said. "That's the philosophy right now, ‘hey we need you, you need to be here with us,' so they're encouraging her to run as close to them as possible."
"Last year we had Kayla, Cassie and Stacey and they were running 1-2-3 up front, right now we're running 1-2 and Amy is close right now and they're trying to get her up there as close as possible so, again we can have that 1-2-3 combination," Willey added.
Joining Renner in the junior class is Danielle Stockham (London, OH) while sophomores Holly Haines (McConnellsville, OH) and Amy Lower (Westerville, OH) also return from last year's squad. Lower has the inside track on the third spot after an injury-plagued freshman campaign.
Rio Grande has been picked to finish 3rd in the Mid-South Conference in 2010. "Everybody ran well over the summer, so they've got good mileage behind them, we're excited for the ladies," Willey said. "Obviously when you're picked third, you'd like to win it and we're going to do the best we can to try to mix it up and try to finish as high as we possibly can in the conference."
"Hopefully it will be higher than third," Willey added. "We're looking for a good year."
Coach Willey and staff have brought in some solid recruits who look to be good prospects for this year and the years to come. The three newcomers are all local products in Scharlena Champion (Hamden, OH), Genna Baker (Gallipolis, OH) and Amanda Neal (Apple Grove, WV).
Willey likes the look of the team as they head into the first meet. "We're very solid, they've worked very hard this summer, we have a lot of talent," he said. "They're excited, you always can't wait for that first meet, but then you dread it at the same time as well."
The highlight of the schedule is always the Rio Invitational, set for September 25. "We've had to move it up a week because of the All-Ohio," Willey said. "It (the All-Ohio) was always the second Friday in October and they've moved it to the first weekend in October and that's when our invitational used to be."
"We have since moved our invitational up a week, so we're now the last week in September, which we're right on top of Lancaster, which they've got great tradition up there and we hate to do that, but we were on top of them last year and we numbered over 1,300 runners," Willey added. "This will be our 40th; we've had this meet for 40 years, so time flies when you're having fun."
The season gets underway on Saturday (September 4) at the Flyer 5 K hosted by the University of Dayton. "Dayton will be a good opener for us, it's a fast course, outstanding competition and we're hoping our girls will be able to go in and mix it up with the teams there," Willey said.
