Chris Derrick and Jake Riley (Photo: Paul Merca)
The Stanford men headed into today’s NCAA Division I cross country championships with vengeance on their minds. After being the top ranked squad going into the same meet last season, the Cardinal plummeted to tenth place. Coach Jason Dunn made a number of adjustments for the 2010 to correct some of their prior mistakes. The team employed pack running tactics at their early meets and ran controlled at the West regional meet a week ago.
Despite the changes, Stanford again did not run up to billing in Terre Haute as the fourth place team. The leading trio of Chris Derrick, Jake Riley, and Elliott Heath ran as a part of the main pack for much of the race. Derrick and Riley held on very well to come in fifth and sixth individually, but Heath began falling off the group after the half-way point to struggle home in 42nd. The team also suffered misfortune as normal fourth man Miles Unterreiner had an uncharacteristically off day while freshman Erik Olson suffered a fall early on and had to put extra work into working his way back up the pack.
Even though the team is surely disappointed, there some positives to take from the race. The Cardinal were still able to salvage a fourth place finish with all the unforeseen events that look place. Additionally, senior Elliott Heath is the only graduating member of the racing lineup that should get even better next year with the addition to blue-chip recruits like Jim and Joe Rosa.
Other notes from the men’s national championship race:
- Oklahoma State matched Oregon’s 2008 achievement of placing three runners in the top ten. Girma Mecheso, German Fernandez, and Colby Lowe finished seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively.
- The eleventh-ranked Florida State Seminoles not only overachieved to nab a spot on the podium, but miraculously earned the silver medal position. The team that was previously best known for its collective efforts to grow mustaches for Flotrack’s “Stachies at Nashies” contest has proven that facial hair is the key to success at nationals.
- Jonathan Peterson of UC-Davis accomplished a lot by just qualifying for the national meet by means of his fifth place finish at the West regional last week, but managed to one-up that today. The junior from Clovis, California shocked nearly everyone by placing 14th and earning his first All-American honor.
Find full team and individual results here.
Original Story:
http://spikeduppsychedup.com/2010/11/...
