“I got a letterman’s sweater
With a letter in front
I got for football and track
I’m proud to wear it now
When I cruise around
The other parts of the town
I got a decal in back
So be true to your school now
Just like you would to your girl or guy
Be true to your school now
And let your colors fly
Be true to your school”
I did not go to a track meet this afternoon.
This is an unusual situation for me on a Saturday in May. There’s always a meet going on somewhere, and my previous blog wasn’t written under the name of “The Track & Field Superfan” for nothing. But this wasn’t just any Saturday, and not just any track meet that I didn’t attend.
I ran at Bowling Green State University in the early 90s, and while I wasn’t particularly good for a college runner I thoroughly enjoyed taking on the extreme physical challenge of training and competing in the NCAA’s highest division. I liked my experiences in Bowling Green so much, I remained in the town for fifteen years after graduation, only leaving six months ago when my wife’s career took us away. I bled burnt orange and seal brown.
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Nike today announced that its Nike Team Nationals (NTN) team cross-country championship will expand this year to include individuals, becoming Nike Cross Nationals (NXN). The Nike Team Nationals event, which began in 2004, featured the 22 best teams of each gender selected via a series of regional qualifying events. This year, the top 22 teams will be joined by the 90 fastest individuals from non-qualifying teams. Nike Cross Nationals is the only national cross-country championship for both teams and individuals.
“Nike Cross Nationals is going to be the ultimate competition for high school cross country,” said Ken Dice, vice president of the Nike USA Brand. “It’s true cross country, and a true national championship. We’re inviting the best runners in the country, whether they compete individually or as part of a team. Nike Cross Nationals is going to take cross country to a whole new level of competition for these elite athletes.”
It’s not often that a major world championship comes to Great Britain, seemingly a prime opportunity for the host country’s best athlete’s to shine. However, only a handful of Britain’s best have answered the call to run for Queen and country, and an athlete with an American father and a Scottish mother who works part-time at a restaurant in Flagstaff, Ariz., will be the U.K.’s top man when the gun sounds for the senior men’s 12 km race here on Sunday afternoon.
Andrew Lemoncello, a talented steeplechaser who starred at Florida State University and won the ACC indoor titles at 3000m and 5000m last year, is excited to compete in Holyrood Park. Rooming with Irishman Martin Fagan in high altitude Flagstaff where he is coached by American Greg McMillan, Lemoncello has come through a snowy winter with some solid training under his belt.
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“What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running?”
- Steve Prefontaine (How he reacted in junior high when he saw the high school XC team running)
“Pain is only temporary,
Pride is forever,
Pain passes with time and Time passes,
therefore Pain is just a strain on the Brain without Refrain,
and that’s why Cross Country runners are Insane.”- a t-shirt
Shalane Flanagan and Dathan Ritzenhein each brought their “A” game to Mission Bay Park here today, running away with their first long-course U.S. Cross Country titles in commanding fashion.
Flanagan, who struggled with the high altitude in Boulder at last year’s championships where she was soundly beaten by Deena Kastor, jumped quickly to a five second lead after 2 km of the 8 km race, and expanded it with each lap. She was unrelenting, pressing all the way to the finish line to win by a whopping 70 seconds in 25:26.
“I had a blast,” said a beaming Flanagan who liked the grass course and the warm conditions. She added: “If we could have venues like this I would be coming every single year.”
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PHOTOS: Taken by Adam Jacobs (TheFinalSprint.com)
PHOTO: Taken by Adam Jacobs (TheFinalSprint.com)
At last year’s U.S. Cross Country Championships in Boulder, Colo., Shalane Flanagan had high hopes for victory. Her main rival, Deena Kastor, was in the midst of heavy training for the Boston Marathon, and Flanagan had been flying on the track, just setting an American indoor record for 3000m: 8:33.25.
But Boulder’s mile-high altitude played to Kastor’s favor (she was one of the few athletes who actually came down from a higher altitude to race in Boulder), and Flanagan was soundly beaten by about about a minute over the 8 km course.
“Boulder was really tough for me,” said Flanagan recalling the race on a teleconference today. “I felt really ill afterwards. Maybe it was altitude or just the effort of the race. There were a couple times on the course when I literally considered throwing myself off the course. I was completely exhausted and it took me a few days to recover.”
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USA Track & Field served as the host to a media teleconference Thursday afternoon featuring two-time USA women’s cross country champions Shalane Flanagan and Colleen De Reuck [Pictured].
Flanagan and DeReuck discussed their preparations for the 2008 USA Cross Country Championships in San Diego on Saturday, where both open and junior men and women will look to earn a spot on the Team USA squad for the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 30.
The championships in San Diego will feature six races that will determine national champions for masters men and women; junior men and women; and open men and women. The event will be televised in association with the AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships February 24, from 5-7 p.m. on ESPN 2.
Excerpts from Thursday’s teleconference with Shalane Flanagan and Colleen De Reuck follow:
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Episode 104 of The Final Sprint Podcast, the most listened to running podcast in North America, features my interview with former BYU Cross Country Champion JOSH ROHATINSKY.
Josh, who now lives in Eugene, OR and is trained by legend Alberto Salazar, is coming off of an impressive marathon debut and 9th place finish at the 2007 […]
The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee announced today the team and individual qualifiers for the 2007 Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships.
In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals must qualify in their respective NCAA regions.
Thirty-one teams were selected to participate in each […]
Lehigh will host the 2007 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Saturday morning on the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course. The Division I men’s 10K race will start at 11 a.m., followed by the Division I women’s 6K race at 12:15 p.m. Goodman Campus will also serve as host to the Division III Mideast Regional, with […]
The Boston College men’s and women’s cross country teams will play host to the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships held at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass., on Sat. Nov. 10.
The men, who are ranked 13th in the Northeast bracket, will start competition at 2:30 p.m. They will race amongst other top-ranked squads including Iona (1), Providence […]
In its third decade of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in partnership with RISE Magazine, today announced the addition of boys and girls cross country to its celebrated high school awards program.
The program recognizes athletic excellence in conjunction with high standards of academic achievement and exceptional character displayed on and […]
Arkansas’ John McDonnell was chosen as the SEC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year, it was announced by the conference on Tuesday.
The award marks McDonnell’s 13th consecutive SEC Cross Country Coach of the Year award and 16th overall after guiding his Razorbacks to another […]
The Wisconsin men’s cross country team had five runners finish in the the top-10 to score 33 points and win its ninth-consecutive Big Ten Conference title Sunday at the Ohio State University Golf Course in Columbus, Ohio.
With the win, the fifth-ranked Badgers set a new conference record for consecutive conference championships. UW also held the […]
Damp and chilly weather in Lexington didn’t slow the Hogs down as John McDonnell’s team took the 2007 SEC Cross Country title at Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday. The Hogs won Arkansas’ 34th-consecutive cross country conference title and its 17th-consecutive SEC cross country title. The title win also marks Arkansas’ 82nd conference title (cross country, […]
The top-two nationally ranked Duck cross country teams savored some of their best showings ever Saturday in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships, hosted by Oregon State University at at Trysting Tree Golf Course.
Under sunny, 62-degree nearly cloudless skies, the No. 1 Duck men won their 15th league title and were led by juniors Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott and […]
The No. 15 Stanford men ran to a second place finish this morning at the Pac-10 Cross Country championships in Corvallis, Ore. The Cardinal scored a total of 55 points, while No. 1 Oregon captured the team title with 39 points. No. 8 Cal rounded out the top three as they recorded 70 points.
Russell Brown […]
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