Ingram Ready for LSC Cross Country Title Chase

October 18, 2005

Weatherford, OK – Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Rachel Ingram has turned what first seemed a laughable goal to something now within her reach when she tries to become the school’s first-ever cross country medalist at the Lone Star Conference Championships set for Saturday, Oct. 22 in Weatherford.

The annual gathering of the league’s top cross country runners and teams will take place at Weatherford’s Prairie West Golf Course. The men’s 8,000 meter race will be at 9:30 a.m. with the women’s 6,000 meter to follow at 10:30 a.m.

No one is snickering at Ingram’s chances now after back-to-back first-place finishes, at the Oklahoma Baptist Invitational and at the Oklahoma State University Jamboree earlier this month. The Springfield, Mo., sophomore has turned in some of the best times of any runner this year in the LSC and has already earned the league’s runner-of-the-week honors for her efforts.

Ingram’s main competition will likely come from 13th ranked Abilene Christian who has two runners – Trina Cox and Olha Kryv’Yak – who beat her in head-to-head competition earlier this year. Cox, a California senior, won the ACU Invitational, finishing the three-mile run in a time of 17:04, 30 seconds ahead of Kryv’Yak and a full minute ahead of third-place Ingram.

“I don’t know if I can catch either of them, but I do know I can improve on what I did last time,” Ingram said. “Hopefully, being familiar with the course and having people cheering and supporting (SWOSU) will work to my advantage.”

Ingram appears to be peaking at the right time and beating a field of 214 runners at the OSU Jamboree has given her a confidence boost heading into the important conference meet.

“I didn’t go into the OSU meet thinking I could win. I was thinking maybe top 10,” Ingram said. “The course was wet and muddy and the pace was really slow. I decided to break from the pack and take off. No one came after me until the very end.”

Ingram’s time in the five-kilometer race was 19:18, six seconds ahead of Angelo State’s Trista McIntyre.

Ingram’s arrival to SWOSU came thanks primarily to the school’s prestigious pharmacy school. She had taken visits to the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Drake University but liked the small town environment that SWOSU offered and decided to pursue her course work (and running) at the Weatherford school.

“SWOSU reminded me a lot of where I grew up and went to school,” Ingram said. “I like my (cross country) teammates and enjoy my classes. It was the right decision for me.”