Photos by John Byrum Photography
Meghan Owens had an extraordinary four-year cross country and track career at Centre College.
— She was a nine-time Southern Athletic Association champion.
— She was the 2023 conference women’s track athlete of the year.
— She was a two-time SAA runner of the year in cross country.
— She was a 12-time all-SAA first-team selection in track and cross country.
— She set school records in both the 10K run and javelin.
However, her finish at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships was not what she wanted. She got boxed in immediately on the frozen, snowy course and despite eventually finding a way to pass 81 runners, she still ended up 136th overall in 23 minutes, 43.5 seconds only one week after she set a personal best mark of 21:40.6 in the regional championships.
At the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track Championships, she finished the 10K (6.2 miles) in 36:10.81 to place 19th.
Now Owens is back for a rare fifth season at Centre because she didn’t want to leave racing with unfinished business despite her overall success with the Colonels.
“If I am being completely honest I just feel there is some unfinished business I need to take care of. I was really happy with my performance at the regional in cross country and then nationals was not a normal national experience most people have had,” she said.
That’s because there was six inches of snow on the course and the temperature was about 15 degrees with a negative wind chill factor.
“It was quite unpleasant and not really suited for a fair or fast race,” she said. “They tried to clear the course (of snow) that morning but the width of the course was not what the standard course would normally be. I got completely blocked in with nowhere to go for about half the race. The front of the pack was so far gone there was nothing I could do to make up ground once I could actually run.
“I felt strongly I was in great shape to be an All-American and I did not get to prove that which did not not set well with me. I really want to be an all-American in cross country and it was very frustrating the way it ended. It was hard to cope with thinking I was going to have a big year last year and didn’t get it. That was the driving force for me coming back.”
She also admits she has some things on the track she wants to “take care of” as well in the spring.
Owens knew before spring semester classes in January that she wanted to return and then had to decide if she wanted to stay for one semester to do cross country or return for the full year and also run track again.
“I just thought I needed to ride it out and do the whole thing. I knew it would be hard to leave (after one semester) knowing the rest of my team was going to indoors and then outdoors in track,” she said. “I wanted to fully exhaust my eligibility with no regrets.”
She has started the cross country season with a bang as she won the prestigious Converse Kickoff with a time of 21:48.7 against some of the top runners in the Division III South/Southeast Region.
Last weekend at the Greater Louisville Classic she was third overall with a 5K time of 17:48 but it was the fastest time of any Division III runner. Hope and Wittenberg, currently the top two teams in the Great Lakes Region with Centre, were both in the event.
Owens has dealt with an iron deficiency issue along with a stress fracture in her foot during her career. She’s “feeling really good” now and her time at Converse was only eight seconds off her personal best in last year’s regional even though it was a much tougher course.
“I am nowhere near as fast as I will be if I stay healthy,” she said. Owens believes this year’s team — which is already ranked nationally in the top 30 — has the “puzzle pieces in place we need” to make a great run at qualifying for the national championships. The Colonels beat both Hope and Wittenberg in the team standings last weekend.
“Only three women’s teams in Centre history have qualified for nationals and I would love to experience that with them. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Owens said. “We were switched to a tough region (Great Lakes) but they (NCAA officials) normally take more teams out of the region to nationals.”
Owens realizes she can be her own toughest critic and sometimes may not appreciate enough what she has already done.
“I do not want to discredit anything I have been able to do. I am thankful for the opportunities that have been given to me and thankful to have been on the national stage three times,” she said.
“But I have always had that All-American status on my mind and I want to achieve it before I graduate. To do that in cross country, you have to be in the top 40 (at nationals). If I can cross that off my list this year then I will feel like I have accomplished my main goal and if I can do that with my team also at nationals it would just be awesome.”
