University of Minnesota Athletics
Harper McConnell and Senior Teammates Obtain NCAA Goal
4/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Thanks to the dedication and hard work of runners such as Golden Gopher senior Harper McConnell, the monkey that symbolizes not competing in an NCAA Championships during their collegiate careers is long gone.
The NCAA Championships, you see, is a goal of every team at season’s start. For many teams that goal is more of a dream, but for the 2005 Minnesota women’s cross country team it was a driving force. McConnell and her senior teammates, and especially Lauren Williams and Jen Hess who have run among the Gophers’ top seven the past several years, this season was a case of NCAA or bust. And busting meant becoming the first senior class to graduate without a trip to the NCAAs since 1995.
“It does for sure,” replied McConnell about if having captured an NCAA berth has taken the monkey off the seniors’ backs. “But there is more to it than just that.”
“Our goal is to finish the highest that a Minnesota cross country team has ever finished,” McConnell adds. “It’s not only finally making it to nationals. We want to be the team that performed the best there.”
A second-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships on Nov. 12 garnered the Golden Gophers an automatic qualifying berth to the national meet. The monkey was already losing its grip after Minnesota’s second-place showing at the Roy Griak Invitational, followed by a third-place finish in the Big Ten Championships.
Though the Golden Gophers are pleased with how the season has transpired thus far, they are not satisfied. McConnell, a two-year team captain, has plans for a big finish. “I would like to see our team finish in the top 10 as the culminating highlight to my cross country career.”
McConnell, known for her consistency both on the course and off, might find herself a bit sentimental once the Gophers toe the line at the NCAA Championships.
“It won’t hit me until we are at the starting line at NCAAs.,” said McConnell “It’s going to be a great feeling. A lot of us came on as not the most highly recruited athletes and we’ve been able to progress and make our way to the top. It’s going to be mixture of finally getting there but also seeing how much hard work we put into it. We weren’t a class with amazing talent. A lot of it was hard work and perseverance.”
After the NCAA Championships and her cross country career is over, McConnell will run her final season of track for the Gophers then graduate with a double major of political science and English.
An Academic All-Big Ten honoree, McConnell has typically taken 15 credits a semester to stay on course to graduate in four years. This fall, she has 19 credits, including an internship with Giving Us Wings, an organization works with sustainable development in Uganda and Kenya. Next year after graduation, she hopes to travel to Africa.
She credits discipline for her ability to graduate in four years, “If you structure your time properly, I don’t see why you can’t graduate with a degree in four years. I really enjoy my political science major as well.”
The same discipline she maintained throughout her academic endeavors is a key reason McConnell will be able to look back on her Golden Gopher cross country career and smile. An NCAA Championships experience, like her degrees, took four years to earn but the rewards are worth the wait.
Players Mentioned
