PVCC Puma Press: October 2003

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	Photo by Stephen Harding
	PVCC cross country runners train vigorously in north Phoenix park for upcoming nationals competition
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Defending a national championship is not an easy task. This year the Paradise Valley Women's Cross Country team is attempting to do just that.

So, after capturing the national championship last season for the third time, how does the PVCC'S Women's Cross Country team follow up this year?

Well, if you ask head Cross Country Coach David Barney, the answer is simple— "Do it again."

"Same as always," said Barney. "We expect nothing short of winning another title in this year's meet [in November]."

To accomplish the task, Barney has been recruiting a strong team.

"We really did a great job recruiting a lot of great freshmen this year," said Barney. "We have Stephanie Willard, Kortney Mosher, Darcee Lambert and Serena Harmon—all of these players are entering their first year at [PVCC]. Between our new kids that just came in and our sophomore leaders, our expectations have got to be very high."

The team is relatively young when it comes to experience, fielding eight freshmen and four sophomores. Because of that Barney is expecting returning sophomores Kassandra Fronczyk, Margaret Jacobs and Jeanine Nesvik to provide experience and leadership for the team—hopefully, leading them to the promised land once again.

"One of the quotes I always tell my team is that, ‘It is the nature of the man to rise to greatness, because greatness is expected of him,'" said Barney. "I think we follow that every season. We have high expectations and we are very demanding. And because of that, we have great results on a yearly basis."

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We expect nothing short of winning another title in this year's meet
— Coach David Barney
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The cross country men's team also enjoyed success last season. After winning the regional meet, the men placed third in the national meet—just seven points shy of second place.

According to Barney, the men's team led by Jeffrey Clement and Brandon Schmidt—were pressing for a first place finish, but injuries and an unfortunate accident in the final race forced the men's team to settle for third place.

"We probably would have been in the mix to win the thing," said Barney. "We had a guy who was in sixth place with 75 meters to go, but he passed out and could not finish the race. So, that cost us a lot of points. But all in all, the [men's team] had a great year."

Barney seeks excellence among his runners in academics as well as sports .

"I think that if you don't have a group that does well academically, you're not going to have a group that runs well," said Barney. "One of our goals before the season for both men and women is to [have a 4.0 grade point average] across the board. Our girls had the highest combined GPA out of any team in the country, and our guys had the second highest. Academics are extremely important to us."