AMANDA BASHAM
Earns Conference Honor After
6K Personal Best
Earns Conference Honor After
6K Personal Best
Basham Selected For NWC Cross Country Honors
A training race turned personal best at the Beaver Classic has earned Amanda Basham distinction at NWC Women's Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Week
FOREST GROVE – A tempo run turned personal best for Pacific University’s Amanda Basham (So., Sweet Home, Ore.) has earned the Boxers’ harrier Northwest Conference Women’s Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Week honors. The award, selected by the conference’s sports information directors, was announced on Tuesday.
Basham set her personal best for 6,000 meters at Saturday’s Beaver Classic in Corvallis. In an event that the Boxers intended to use as a tempo run in preparation for this weekend’s Northwest Conference Championships, Basham ran what felt like a relaxed pace to a time of 23:28. The 30th place time was a six-second personal best for Basham and marked the second time that she had reset her best time at 6,000 meters this season.
Head Coach Tim Boyce said that Basham’s time was not an attempt to go ahead and race instead of holding back, but a realization that the relaxed effort may indicate that there is much more potential in the Boxers’ No. 1 runner.
“Amanda is enjoying a fine season and is ready to perform well in the upcoming championship season,” Boyce said. “She has been very dedicated since her arrival at Pacific last fall. It is great for her to get this recognition for what was a great workout effort in Corvallis.”
Basham has continued to improve in every meet she has run this season. Her effort at the Beaver Classic ranks as the fourth best time in Pacific history at the 6,000-meter distance. Additionally, her 5,000-meter best this season of 19:17, set at the Oct. 16 Mike Hodges Invitational in Clackamas, is the eighth fastest in school history.
Basham will lead the Pacific cross country teams into action this weekend as the Boxers participate in the Northwest Conference Championships at McIver State Park in Estacada. The women will run at 11 a.m., while the men race at noon.
Posted by Blake Timm (timmbr@pacificu.edu) on Oct 27, 2009 at 1:24 PM
