Coach brings confidence

Last year at this time the women's cross country team faced a major dilemma. They had to deal with the loss of 2000 NCAA qualifier Allyson Hammond, who was out for the year with an injury.\nThe team struggled and was unable to rebound from her injury and ultimately finished 9th in the Big Ten.\nThis year is a different story.\nHammond is back and the Hoosiers are buoyed by a young, enthusiastic squad. Coach Judy Wilson believes her young Hoosier team brings a new attitude and dedication that will improve their overall performance.\n"They are a good group of people that combine that with talent and hard work," Wilson said.\nWilson has the experience to know talent when she sees it. Wilson's Indiana cross country career began when she walked on to the team in 1984. By the time she left the program in 1988 she had improved so much that she received the Most Improved Athlete Award for the team and was a two time winner of the Coaches Award. \nIn her time at Indiana, Wilson received a B.S. in exercise science and won the Scholastic Achievement Award in 1987. After graduating, Wilson left to coach high school for a year before moving on to coach at the University of South Florida in 1990. That year she was voted Sun Belt Conference Co-Coach of the Year. \nTwo years later, Wilson came back to the state of Indiana where she took over as head coach and program director at DePauw University. In her fourth year at DePauw she became the ICAC Coach of the Year.\nIn her last job before coming back to Indiana, Wilson coached cross country at the University of Connecticut. There, she coached Danyelle Wood and Allison Ciosek to the national qualifiers. \nAlthough she has a storied history in the sport, Wilson is more interested on focusing on a run at the Big Ten this season than dwelling on past accolades.\n"Right now we think we are one of the top three elite teams in the Big Ten," Wilson said.\nIn being involved in cross country over the last 18 years Coach Wilson is able to use her previous experiences as both a runner and a coach to mentor her athletes today. She often tries to teach her players that the mental aspect of the race is almost as important as the physical part. \nJunior Becky Obrecht attributes most of her success and the way she prepares for a race to her coach. \n"Coach Wilson has had a big influence in my career," Obrecht said. "She is so encouraging and supportive and she gave me my shot. (Coach Wilson) has taught me to have confidence before the race. If you are confident going in you will most likely run a better race." \nJunior teammate Audrey Giesler has many of the same sentiments as Obrecht regarding Wilson.\n"(Coach Wilson) has made me a lot more comfortable with bigger meets, and knowing what to expect from them," she said.\nBut when Wilson is approached about the success of her team, she seems to want to take a step back and let her team take the majority of the credit. She attributes the improved play of her squad so far to the team members coming into the year in better shape than in years past.\n"They obviously came into practice this year in great shape," Wilson said. "I can't ask for much more from them"