Meghan Owens, left, and Sophie Bouldin celebrate after qualifying for the Division III NCAA Cross Country Championship this weekend. (Scott Owens Photo)
Meghan Owens has not forgotten the 2022 Division III NCAA Cross Country Championship in Lansing, Mich., where cold weather and snow combined to lead to what she admits was her most disappointing athletic performance ever.
Owens set a personal best at the NCAA regional only to get blocked in the pack at the start and finished 136th overall on the 6K (3.7 miles) in 23 minutes, 43.5 seconds — way slower than she ran the previous week.
“I was very happy to be there and experience it. I was thankful for the opportunity but it was a hard pill to swallow knowing the weekend before I had a huge PR (personal record) and if I had run the same time I would have been an all-American,” said Owens. “There was snow on the ground, I got boxed in immediately and had no shot of breaking out until midway of the race. The first mile was the slowest mile of the season because I had nowhere to go. It was tough to cope with.”
That led Owens to return to Centre for a fifth year where she became the Southern Athletic Association Women’s Runner of the Year for the third time and won last week’s Great Lakes Regional Championship with a personal best of 20:43.8 to break the previous school record set by All-American Serena Gale-Butto by eight seconds.
Now Owens is off to the national championship again Saturday in Newville, Pa., where the weather forecast is for relatively mild temperatures and no snow.
“It is actually looking pretty nice compared to last year. Then again, I am not sure there’s any way it could be worse than last year,” Owens said.
Owens came back to Centre College for “redemption” this season and while she won her first NCAA regional with a new personal best time, she’s not there yet.
“This weekend my hope is that I can fulfill that redemption a little more,” she said. “I knew last week if things did not go like I hoped that I would not have a shot to finish my unfinished business that I came back to do. I just knew I was going to give it my all and that would either be enough (to make the nationals) or it would be my last race.
“I went out hard, something I have been working on harder this season after nationals last year. I pretty much led from the fun. I was running at a comfortably hard pace and keeping as much distance on the others as possible.”
Owens thought she could break 21:30 and maybe challenge getting under 21 minutes but she was shocked when she saw a 20:43 finish.
“I knew it was possible. I am just glad I have been able to stay relatively healthy this year,” she said. “I had a little sickness a couple weeks back before conference and had some congestion at conference but nothing too bad.”
Owens feels she has more “left in the tank” for nationals and knows she’ll need it. The team started to “taper” last week where Owens dropped her mileage from 50 or so miles per week to 40 (her highest week this season was 60 miles).
“That is still a lot but is significantly less than before and our workouts are more for maintenance,” she said.
Owens’ strategy Saturday will be simple after what happened last year.
“This will be a very strong field of girls. We have been in some strong races but nothing like nationals,” she said. “Lining up with the best is very humbling. I really want to be in the top 40 and walk away an All-American. I definitely will be going out as fast as I can.”
She’ll have sophomore teammate Sophie Bouldin competing with her. Bouldin was seventh in the region 21:02.2, the fourth fastest 6k in program history.
“I love her to death and am so proud of her. She ran out of her mind. We are going to have so much fun at nationals and I am excited to see what she will do in the next two years. She is insane, and distance runners have to be a little insane, in the best possible way.”
The two often train together and Owens believes Bouldin can also finish in the top 40 to earn All-American honors.
“We have a lot of good talks before races so her being there with me this year is important,” Owens said. “If you don’t qualify as a team, you are put in a starting box with other individual qualifiers so I was in there with three random girls from other teams. Having Sophie next to me will really be nice.
“We are good for each other and know this will be the last time on a cross country (starting) line together. She knows what this race means to me and why I came back for a fifth year and she’s been a huge help to me and will be again Saturday.”
