With first-place wins at seven meets, including the NCAA Western regionals and the Pac-10 championships, the women's cross- country team arrived at the November 22 NCAA championships at Indiana University as the nation's top-ranked squad. Led by veterans Julie Stamps, a junior, and team captain Sally Glynn, a senior, the Cardinal was the team to beat.
And that's just what happened, as Brigham Young and Arkansas dashed the hopes of Stanford, which finished third. Glynn, who finished fifth in the nation last year, struggled and was far off the leaders by the 3-kilometer marker, finishing a disappointing 45th in her last cross-country race in college. Stamps hung with the pack in the early going but had trouble in the last stretch, holding on for 14th place.
The younger runners fared better, heightening hopes for the future. Freshman Lauren Fleshman took fifth, running the 5,000-meter course in 16:50.9, while Erin Sullivan finished seventh at 16:51.4. That helped the Cardinal compile 127 team points. Sullivan, also a freshman, had already recorded a first-place award at the Pac-10 championships and a second at the pre-NCAAs and the NCAA Western regionals. Fleshman had competed five times this season, finishing four times in the top four, including two third-place showings at the conference and regional championships.
"We knew all year it was going to be a close race, even though everybody thought it was going to be a runaway," Stanford head coach Vin Lananna said in Indiana. "I'm not sure that we could have beaten [BYU] today no matter what we did."
The men's team finished fourth -- to much less disappointment. Four of last season's top seven male runners had graduated, and Lananna viewed this as a year to rebuild.
