Women's team approaches event as chance to learn pacing, coach says

The women's cross country team opens its season today at the Indiana Open at home. The meet will set the tone of the Hoosiers' season. \nTwelve women will start the race for IU. While head coach Judy Bogenschutz said she considers the meet "low key," she said it's also a good indicator of where the members are in their training.\n"The first two meets are to see where people are at. They are stepping stone races for the bigger races in Minneapolis and South Bend," Bogenschutz said.\nBut for some of the athletes, this race is meaningful. For the five freshmen, this is their first collegiate race. \nMindy Peterson, Amber Miller, Julie Shields, Jaime Higginbotham, and Laura Helhowski make their first appearance in an IU uniform. Although the meet is not as big as others, nerves are affecting some of the freshmen.\n"I am a little bit nervous since it is my first race, but coach isn't putting much pressure on us," Miller said.\nFor the new runners, a collegiate race is much different than a high school meet. The distance is increased from 4K to a 5K. The change in distance may take some time to get used to. Preparation will be the key, members said.\n"Coach has done a good job on getting us ready for this meet. I'm going to be more mentally prepared than I have been in the past," Peterson said.\nBogenschutz said the focus of this race will be control.\n"We're going to work on the process of the race. We're going to work on pacing ourselves to run an even race," she said. "People think that since you are a college runner that you know how to pace a race. Pacing is something you learn to do."\nBogenschutz also said it will be good for the freshmen to judge the 5K.\nThough juniors Amanda Bell and Allyson Hammond will not compete, there will be some returning runners who will. This race will be a judge on how their summer training has gone.\nSophomore Lauren Weddell agrees. \n"It's a good gauge to see where you are at," Weddell said. "It's also good to get back into racing. I haven't raced since last track season so it will be good to get back"