Blazing a Trail
October 05, 2007 10:31 AM | General
October 5, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University cross country team cracked the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 this week, coming in at No. 20. The Top 25 ranking is the first for WVU since the 2004 team was ranked 15th going into the NCAA Championships following the school’s first ever Mid-Atlantic Regional title.
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| Marie-Louise Asselin's time last week was within 19 seconds of last year's NCAA championship-winning time.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The ranking is a huge accomplishment for a program that has undergone a steady rebuilding process since fielding one of its most outstanding teams in school history in the 2004. After that championship season, the Mountaineers were ravaged by graduation and slipped to 18th in the region in 2005. The 2006 team was better than most experts predicted, finishing fourth and Head Coach Sean Cleary has this year’s squad primed for even bigger things.
“I would say the ranking is really a tribute to how far we’ve come just in the last 18 months. Three years ago we were probably the finest team that we’ve ever had here. We finished in the “Sweet 16” of NCAA nationals and then took a big step back after tremendous graduation,” Cleary said. “In two short years they’ve really moved up quickly. I’d say more than anything it’s just a real reward to the kids for hard work and their focus to rebuild this team.”
The future appears even brighter for this squad as six of the top seven runners are freshmen or sophomores. The team is also dominated by Mountain State natives with 15 of the 19 runners hailing from West Virginia.
“It’s very exciting. One of the neatest aspects of this group right now is that they truly believe they are going to be a memorable team at this University before they graduate,” Cleary said. “We are freshman-and-sophomore-dominated and it’s great to see that five of our seven varsity runners are West Virginia natives.”
WVU is coming off a second place finish at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa., on Sept. 28. Facing by far its toughest competition of the season, WVU placed ahead of three ranked teams at the meet.
This deep Mountaineer team is led by a trio of sophomores in Marie-Louise Asselin, Clara Grandt and Keri Bland. A pair of true freshmen in Kate Harrison and Kaylyn Christopher round out the top five, while junior Alison Spiker and sophomore Maria Dalzot provide support in the sixth and seven spots respectively.
In cross country, the top five times on each team are added together to make the team score so a solid top five is critical. The sixth and seventh runners could also be called upon at any time to step into the top five.
“Clara Grandt is one of the heart and souls of this program. She goes out and wins Lock Haven earlier this year in a time that would have placed her third or fourth in the NCAA Regional last year,” Cleary said. “Those three front runners, Grandt, Marie-Louise-Asselin and Keri Bland, are truly three of the absolute best in the country for a front-running pack.”
Cleary describes the remainder of his lineup.
“From then we move back to kids like Kate Harrison and Kaylyn Christopher who are filling in our spots and the four-five are solidifying our team score. We’ve got five that are in place,” Cleary said. “We’ve then got Alison Spiker and Maria Dalzot getting better and better in case somebody steps down or slips. We’ve got three great front runners followed by a pack of hard working, great kids.”
The depth of this team is a luxury Cleary simply hasn’t had before. While it is vital to have a great front-running pack, he describes the importance of having very strong runners in the four and five spots, something that often separates the good cross country teams from the great ones.
“We’ve got the frontrunners with the low points but to be honest a great cross country team is only as good as their fifth runner,” Cleary said. “It is very important to have that young lady get across the line and Kate Harrison and Kaylyn Christopher have handled that wonderfully.”
While the top five runners are set for now, Cleary also explains the importance of a strong sixth and seventh runner, while reiterating that nothing is set in stone with his lineup.
“I would say right now our top five have really established themselves but I know that I have three or four other young ladies that believe they are going to be in the lineup when we line up at the end,” Cleary said. “What can happen with a great six or seven is you can have a six or seven in front of another team’s four and five pushing their score higher. It’s very important to have those kids in great shape and running well. Thing happen. Injuries occur and sicknesses occur. They know that they are needed when they step on the line.”
All coaches preach that they want their team to peak at the end of the season. That sentiment is perhaps even more critical in cross country than in any other college sport. The meets during the first nine weeks of the season will prepare the team for the final three weeks of the campaign when they compete at the Big East Championships, the Mid-Atlantic Regionals and hopefully the NCAA Championships. While the early success is nice, it won’t mean a thing if the Mountaineers are not successful in those final three weeks.
“We are strictly a sport that is evaluated based on championships, which means you can be a below average program for nine weeks and as long as you excel in the last three weeks of the season you will be remembered as a great team,” Cleary said. “All our focus in these earlier meets and throughout the season is on identifying our top seven runners and building for the last three weeks of the season.”
