Nov. 3, 2005

COMMERCE - Cross country is its own paradox. Teammates competing against one another also pull for those same runners in order to improve their own team's ranking.

That irony is not lost on Texas A&M University-Commerce's Chase Snowden--a lip-ring wearing, import-car driving member of the Delta Tau Alpha agriculture honor society. He is also no slouch on the men's cross country team along with his freshman brother, Matthew Snowden.

That's doubly true for twin sisters Kara and Andra Bickel. Now in their junior year, both have improved from just fighting to win a spot on the team as walk-ons to earning scholarships for their cross country and outdoor track performances.

"They epitomize the term student-athlete," head cross country and track and field coach Pat Ponder said. "They are just solid people, and I couldn't find any better people."

Those two have been racing their whole lives. Kara is actually older by a minute. "It was never really a decision [to run]," Andra said of competing in high school. "It was just something we did." In fact, their first memories date back to elementary school when they practiced racing to a neighbor's house, rehearsing for the years and miles to come.

As for the reason to commit to such a grueling sport, "I think we really liked our first cross country coach," Kara said. "He saw potential in us, so we stuck with it."

They were right. As high school sophomores in Lone Oak, approximately 30 miles outside Commerce, they were one of the first state finalists in any sport in the school's history. Although they came up short, it continues to drive them today.

For all they share in common, there are some slight distinctions. Kara, with her longer stride, has an edge in the shorter distances and the final kick at the end of the race, while Andra tends to conserve energy with a shorter knee drive, an advantage for distance running.

"We'd always push each other," Kara said. "But as the years go, we don't want to just settle for beating each other."

The sisters have come to rely on that impulse to train in the off season. "We motivate each other, and we'll make each other do it," Andra said.

It's the same kind of relationship the Snowden's share. Both were recruited out of Lubbock by coach Ponder.

"Chase has proven himself," Ponder said. "He's a proven runner."

"Every year [running for the Lions] gets better, every semester," Chase recalled. "It's always getting more intense. The bad gets worse, and the good gets better."

This season has proven to be one of those upswings. There is a long-established Ponder rule that unless the team finishes in the top half of the Lone Star Conference Championships, it won't compete in the regional championships--making it a privilege to compete. The men finished fifth, just more than 40 points behind first-place Abilene Christian.

Kara will race along with Niki Williams in the women's regional in hopes of winning an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA Division II National Championships in California.

When the Lion men compete in Abilene on Nov. 5, they can be assured that Matthew has a history of coming up big in the late races. In high school, he improved his three-mile cross country run by more than a minute in the three weeks between the district and state championships. That launched the underdog Lubbock team to a state title--by a single point.

"There were three seniors on the team, and I had a lot of pressure to run the race of my life," he said. He was just a sophomore at the time, and it gave the school its first-ever state championship of any kind," he said.

For the Lions to do the same, they will rely on a strategy called "pack" running, Chase explained. The idea is to keep the team huddled closely enough to not allow competitors to slip past and break up the position finishes. But the goal is always the same, finish early and often. That, meanwhile, is the job of the "bell cow," a term for the team's lead runner who's job it is to jump out early and interrupt another team's pack.

Also running for the Lion men will be Jessie Rodriquez, Ryan Dirickson, Caleb Reynolds, Logan Bowman, and Amos Davidson.

It should prove to be an interesting trip, like much of the other times on the road. From Chase's own unique form of interpretive dance, which strangely resembles line dancing and the Robot combined, there should be no shortage of entertainment all around.

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