Running Down a Dream

63

Author: Chris Nelson

The Occidental Cross Country program showed its teeth in last Saturday’s West Regional competition in Portland, Oregon. After finishing second in the regional meet, the Men’s team will advance to the NCAA National Championship next week. Men’s Co-Captain Kevin Chaves (senior) led the way, not just for the Tigers, but for the region, finishing first overall with a time of 24:34.85 on the 8K course.

The women’s team also had a successful day, finishing sixth overall. Although the women’s team will not advance to nationals, Maddie Weissman (sophomore) will represent the Tigers at nationals. She earned a place as an individual by finishing 14th overall and will be the first runner to represent the women’s team at nationals since Daisy DeMelo in 2002.

Although the men’s team did not incorporate the same running strategy they used to win SCIAC, they felt they ran well as a team at the regional meet. “For regionals, we didn’t necessarily have the same strategy in terms of Kevin hanging back and running people up,” Robby Nelson (senior) said. “We had faith that everyone would run well.”

“We are running a lot more as a pack than we have been,” Chaves said. “Conference was us figuring out how do that. We were training to do that all season. It’s about knowing on the starting line that you can run as a pack.”

The men’s team was successful running as a pack as Oxy finished second to regional powerhouse Willamette University, which was good enough to qualify for the National Championship. The team’s success also allowed Chaves to “run for the win” as an individual in the regional meet.

“Running for the win for me means convincing yourself you can win before it happens,” Chaves said. “Guys can be so fast, but you can’t be like, ‘they are faster than me.’ It’s a confident, arrogant feeling you have before the race, but you have to respect your competition in running.”

Oxy cross country has a great deal of respect for their competition. They praised Willamette for finishing first and refrained from making the stereotypical “we should have had ’em” comments. Chaves also spoke highly of his regional rival Julian Boggs of Colorado College, a nationally accomplished runner who finished first in the West Region last year with a record-setting time.

The women’s team also had a successful regional. Their sixth overall finish is impressive, especially for a team as young as the Tigers. Weissman’s national qualification is a highlight, and the overall team accomplishments demonstrate the promise this young squad has. Women’s Co-Captain Caitlin Croall is the team’s only senior runner, and the majority of the team consists of first-years and sophomores.

The 2007 season has certainly been an improvement from 2006, when the Tiger women finished fourth in SCIAC. The team gives first year coach Rob Bartlett a lot of credit for their progress. “I think Rob is one of the biggest influences on the women’s team,” Denali Halsey (sophomore) said. “We just love him. We love being around each other, we love being around the coach. We are happy in practice and we love practicing together.”

“The women were incredible this year,” Coach Bartlett said. “Last season the women came in fourth in the conference championships, so to be unbeaten this year is a huge testament to all their hard work and dedication. The most exciting thing, though, is that there’s no reason the women can’t continue to improve next year.”

Runners from both teams credit the increased sense of team solidarity for the successes they have both enjoyed in 2007.

“The team dynamic is one of the main reasons people invested so much time and effort into this season,” Croall said. “We ran with and trained with people who share our passion for the sport and everyone just had a great time doing it and supported one another.”

“The great misconception with cross country is thinking it is an individual sport,” Chaves said. “Both the teams themselves and the spectators can lose the team feeling. Only the best teams realize how much of a team sport it is. You cannot do it any other way.”

Cross Country’s team dynamic can inspire individuals to do extraordinary things for the benefit of the team. Alex Ramon’s (senior) performance at regionals is a fitting example. One race into the season, Ramon suffered two tears in his foot, an injury that should have been season ending; but Ramon would not give up. He trained hard in spite of his injured foot and was able to come back and run in the regional competition.

“Alex worked so hard when he was injured,” Nelson said. “And you can tell: he looks fitter now than he did at the beginning of the season.”

“Alex says that his injury is a blessing in disguise,” Chaves said. “And you can see it at regionals. It was unreal how he ran.”

Ramon’s performance was unreal indeed. Despite not having run a race since early September, Ramon finished fourth in the West Region, besting his performance from last year when he was healthy for the season. Moreover, his return has given the team all the more confidence as they prepare for the final meet of the season.

The Men’s team is entering into Nationals without any specific expectations, but that does not mean they are simply content to be there. Part of the reason for the lack of expectation is that the team does not know what to expect.

“It is so hard to predict how nationals will go,” Nelson said. “Willamette is ranked fifth in the nation and Colorado College is 19th, but we beat Colorado College and finished close behind Willamette.”

Although the Tigers have no predictions for nationals, their recent success against ranked opponents gives the team a quiet confidence. “I think we’ll surprise a few people at Nationals,” Coach Bartlett said. “We weren’t ranked nationally going into the regional meet, so nobody outside of the team really expected us to do as well as we did. I’m confident that we can continue our good form of late and make a run at a top 20 position.”

The NCAA Division III National Championship takes place this Saturday in Northfield, Minnesota. Come out to support the cross country teams upon their return on Monday night, when the men’s and women’s teams close their season with the Midnight Mile on the Bill Henry Track. Several schools in the SCIAC will be joining the Tiger runners in the season’s final mile. The event starts at 11:50 p.m.

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