Turning the corner tosuccess

Story by Tracy Figley

It wasa year inwhich theLady Flames cross country team took a beating at the hands ofNCAA Division I competition, but overall, theteam improved

Liberty posted a 4-4season recordand was ranked second in the region and20th in the nation in NCAA Division II The Flames hadfinished with a 1-4 dual meet record theprevious season

LBC had little problem with rebuilding thisseason,returning fiveletterrecipients, plus two freshmen, and a junior college transfer

The Lady Flames began theseason at Winston-Salem, N.C Running against Wake Forest, Appalachian State University, and Radford University, LBC placed second offour teams with 46totalpoints

Renee Viertel wastheteam leader with a time of 19:21, finishing fifth overall. The

Lady Flames finished second to Appalachian State inthemeet.

Liberty's next meet was the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Invitational.LBC finished ninth out of the 16-team field. Freshman Renee Viertel finished fourth for the Flames, posting a time of 19:42and placing 17th overall.Renae Reimer placed 47th with a time of 20:58.

"This was a tough, very competitive meet on a hilly,demanding course," said Head Coach Ron Hopkins

The George Mason University Invitational was Liberty's next meet Libertyfinished ninth ina field ofmostly DivisionI teams LBC's top finisher was Renae Reimer who finished 38th with a school record time of 18:33for the three-mile course. Nancy Knowles andRenee Viertel finished 39th and40th respectively.

"This wasour best team andindividual performance of the year," commented Hopkins

Liberty came home for itsfirst home appearance totake on Virginia Commonwealth University LBC won the5000-meter race by placing runners infive of the top eight positions,winning with ascoreof 22-33

The Lady Flames then took on the University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, and Mary Baldwin at home The Flames finished third behind Tech and the University of Richmond, posting their best scores against both teams Freshman Renee Viertel was thetopLBC finisher on Liberty's three-mile course, placing eighth out of40 runners with a time of 19:48 Julie Etchison andRenae Reimer both ran the course in under 22minutes.

Harrisonburg, Va.,wasthe next stopas the Lady Flames took on James Madison University. LBC ranmuch better thanthe year before, butstill lost the meet, 17-42. LBC put three runners in the top eight positions, compared to last year when JMU dominated the meet, putting runners in all ofthe topnine spots

Renee Viertel was again the team leader in the meet, placing fifth with a record breaking time of 19:08. The loss brought the Flames record to 4-4

For thefirst time inthehistory of the team, LBC went totheNCAA DivisionII Southeast Regional Championships inCarrollton, Ga.Liberty finished second ina fieldof 12 teams with 79 totalpoints Liberty's Renee Viertel wasthe team's top runner, placing fourth with a time of 19:08.4

Liberty ended theseason with the NCAA national championships Weather conditions were lessthan ideal.Ten-degree temperatures, 15 mile-per-hour winds, and drifting snow all hampered the runners' performances. Renee Viertel finished 67th out of94 runners with a time of 23:15.

"This was the year ofturning the corner of success intheNCAA Division II,"said Hopkins."Our girlsdidn't realizehowgood they were Now we can't surprise anyone anymore."