If you have ever been channel surfing on a Saturday afternoon there is a good chance you have seen some form of a “count-down” show. Music channels count down the hottest new videos, entertainment shows show their most shocking moments of the year, and ESPN airs Mike Tyson’s best knockouts in order of ferocity. The task has been laid upon me to do something similar here at Guilford College. At Guilford we field 16 varsity athletic programs, divided equally amongst men and women’s sports. The objective I have is to try to somehow separate the good teams from the truly great teams in each individual sport. So, without further ado, I am pleased to give you. the 2009-2010 Women’s Cross Country and Track Team as the sixteenth best team in Guilford College history.

Although this is budding program, last years team did something that has never been done in school history. They fielded a track team. This alone is a monumental achievement.

This makes me think of those well-established athletic programs with rich traditions. You will see present teams talking about how if it wasn’t for the first few years, this program would have never got off the ground. This is what the Women’s Track and Field did last year by simply coming together as a collective unit.

Led by then lettered sophomore distance runner, Linnea Saby and then sophomore Melloni Diem, the team set standards that will be looked back upon by future Quaker track stars.

The Cross Country Team in its sixth year continues to make leaps and bounds in establishing itself in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). The bounds that I speak of were due to an all around contribution from the entire team.

Linnea Saby had an outstanding time in the 6 kilometers at the ODAC Championships where she finished with a 26:43.5 time. This time ranks now third in Guilford’s record books. Teammate and then first year Tessy Omina from Kenya, showed signs of promise when she finished first amongst the team at the Lenior-Rhyne Invitational with a time of 27:37.04 during the 800-meter.

“We had some definite challenges that first year, but that was to be expected with such a small group”, responded Head Coach Heidi Pinkerton when asked about the track team’s inaugural first year.

Stay tuned next week as we continue the countdown with number 15 on our list.