SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 27, 2010) -- The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) women's cross-country team starts its second season in September with hopes of making it even better than the team's first year. Coming off an impressive inaugural season, the women's cross-country team and Head Coach Stephen Sherman have been working hard this summer to prove that their initial success was not a fluke. "We are definitely looking for a top-3 finish," says Coach Sherman.

With two runners returning from last year, Miriam Vazquez and Brandis Hurt, the rest of the team must put forth intense efforts to meet the expectations that were set from last year. Coach Sherman is confident that the team will be able to duplicate their success.

New members include: freshmen Laura Echeveria from El Campo and Megan Matthews from Pflugerville; junior Patricia Vazquez from El Paso; and senior Melly Mora from Brownsville.

He notes that Vazquez will be the building block of the team, but does not discredit the talent that has been added. "This team is twice as good as last year. They are a strong team and more is expected from them."

In order for the Saints to obtain a top-3 finish, they will have to face some tough competition, including Northwood University and Texas Wesleyan University. "These two schools are our toughest competition; they are really good teams," says Coach Sherman.

Even though cross-country is not a spectator sport, Sherman knows that encouragement from the OLLU community will help the women's team start and finish strong.