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Show FREE AND EASY she goes. Runner Dana Willie appears to have the course to herself. The background blurs as she anticipates the finish line. (Signpost photo: Oscar Sosa) LEADER OF THE PACK, Oscar Sosa paces his fellow runners through this autumn landscape. John Purin, Tracy Fifield, Kris Cary, Jerry Allred and Dave Andreasen round out the group. (Signpost photo: Ron Jugenitz) Text: Oscar Sosa Last fall, Weber State College had the best men's cross country season in recent history. It won several big meets and was ranked in the top 20 nationally for most of the season. With the exception of the conference meet in which many of the runners did not compete up to par, Coach Chick Hislop was pleased with the season. "We had very tight grouping throughout the season. In five of our six meets, we had less than 40 seconds between our first and fifth man. All seven of our top runners placed as high as fourth man in at least one meet," he said. The team competed well in the local competition, losing to BYU by one point in the first home meet and winning the second home meet. The highlight of the season, however, was when the team traveled to Albany, California to compete in the California Cross Country Invitational. The Wildcat harriers scored an impressive win with 31 points to nationally-ranked Northern Arizona University's 43. The 'Cats placed their top five runners in the top ten places overall. During the season, the Wildcats had four different runners as the top team finisher -senior Paul Henderson, junior Oscar Sosa, sophomore Dave Andreasen, freshman John Purin -all leading the team at one time or the other. Kris Cary, Tracy Fifield, Jerry Allred and Bret Williams were the other members that helped the team rank as high as 19th in the nation. The Wildcats were favored to win the Big Sky going into the conference meet, but did not compete as well as expected. "Only two runners ran close to what they had been running all season," Hislop said. "Jerry Allred sprained his ankle at the mile mark, but still managed to pass 22 people after he was able to start running again." The other four runners had sub-par performances and the team ended up fourth in the meet and sixth in District VII of the NCAA. The winner of the meet, the University of Montana, finished ninth overall in the NCAA National Meet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Paul Henderson was the only senior on the team last fall, so Coach Hislop feels he can field a strong team next year. "We have the most returnees we've ever had. It should be an outstanding season. I expect to have more bodies out next year, and we plan to have a tougher schedule." .1 ; Text: Mike Coe Led by sophomore distance runner Michelle Green and spurred on by seniors Becky Wayment and Camille Tueller and freshman Dana Willie, Weber's women's cross country team enjoyed a banner year. At the MWAC conference championships, Weber took third behind Montana State and Idaho. Cross country coach Jim Blaisdell said about the season, "I thought we had a good cross-country season, but we were expecting a little more. I thought we had a chance at conference, but for some reason we didn't run as well as I thought we would." In the MWAC meet held in early November, the team was faced with illnesses to Wayment, Tueller and Willie. But, with another solid showing by Michelle Green, along with an unexpected but quite welcomed, brilliant performance by Michelle's twin sister Mari, the team was able to overcome its difficulties.The meet, held in Bozeman, Montana, proved to be one of the most competitive cross country meets in the history of the MWAC conference. With Michelle Green finishing in fifth place and Mari finishing in 11th place, the team was able to capture third place in the meet. For her efforts, Michelle earned All-Conference honors for the second straight year in a row. Mari just missed making the All-Conference team by one place. Two weeks later, the team competed in the District Seven meet in Boise, Idaho. Though the team was over its illness, it still had two problems to overcome: Mother Nature and unenthusiasm. The Wildcats had hoped to perform better than they did in the MWAC meet, but they didn't have much success in negotiating the snow covered course. Also, since the District meet was two weeks after the MWAC meet which the team really gears up for, the District meet tends to be anti-climatic. They ended up in 10th place out of 13 teams. While overall, Weber didn't have a good meet, Michelle Green was better than ever. Green finished in 16th place, the highest finish of any of Coach Blaisdell's runners since he came to the school. Green was also the third runner in from the MWAC conference. For the year, Green was without a doubt the team's number one runner. But, after that, nothing was for certain. Wayment, Tueller and Willie were usually the number two-to-four runners, but what order they would finish in was anyone's guess. Wayment started her senior year slower than the other two, due in part to the recent birth of her first child. But with some gutsy front running tactics, Wayment was able to quickly round back into shape. Besides Michelle and Mari Green, Wayment, Tueller and Willie, Weber's team consisted of Lori Tolley, Melinda Smith, Mary Honholt and Jackie Kester. The team was greatly hurt early in the season when Diana Jones went down with "mono." Jones had been either the number one or number two runner for the Wildcats for the past two years. Though the team will lose Wayment and Tueller next season, the Green sisters, along with Willie, should provide the nucleus for continued success for years to come. Cross Country - 1 . 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