Sweep, triple crown, trifecta describe Owls championship wins

Sweep, triple crown, trifecta describe Owls championship wins
Rice takes all three C-USA titles

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

You can call it a sweep or you can call it a triple crown — either way the Rice Owls women’s track and field accomplished it during the 2007-08 athletic season by winning conference team titles in cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field in Conference USA (C-USA). Only one other school in America out of 32 conferences accomplished the same feat.

“Every year you have three opportunities to win a championship,” said Jim Bevan, head coach. “To win all three, you have to have a balanced team, stay healthy and then compete at a high level three different times. It’s difficult to achieve excellence three times a year, but it says a lot about our training system, our coaching staff and our support staff — especially the athletic trainers and team doctors.”

	COURTESY PHOTO
	The Rice Owls women’s track and field won conference team titles in cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field in Conference USA.

Bevan was named C-USA Coach of the Year for the second consecutive time. He also received the C-USA Coaches’ Choice Award in September for his long-term commitment to the women’s cross country and track and field team.

In three years under Bevan, the Owls have now won the last five C-USA team championships. In addition to the 2008 outdoor title, Rice has won the 2008 indoor crown, 2007 cross country title, the 2007 indoor title and the 2007 outdoor championship.

This season marks the second time that Rice has completed the trifecta in school history. The first instance occurred in 2000, under the direction of Victor Lopez, when the Owls competed in the Western Athletic Conference. It is also the first time in C-USA for a team to win all three titles since Marquette University won in 1996.

Rice won its second straight outdoor championship and its sixth conference outdoor title in the last nine years. The Owls won the WAC title in 2000, ’01, ’03 and ’04.

“We had a tremendous day with tremendous performances across the board,” Bevan said. “It was a true battle, and we had an outstanding meet and to do it at a high altitude makes it even more outstanding.”

Highlights from the championships include:

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