NCAA DI Championships: Cool While Chasing History

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With so much history at stake tomorrow at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, you’d think the ones with a chance to make it would be excited about the opportunity.

If Friday’s press conference was any indication, it’s business as usual for Oregon’s Edward Cheserek, Boise State’s Allie Ostrander and top-ranked New Mexico.

Let’s start with Cheserek, who is one of 11 men who have won back-to-back individual titles. Last year he joined Drake’s Fred Feidler (1945-46), Rhode Island’s Robert Black (1948-49), Kansas’ Herb Semper (1950-51), Houston’s Al Lawrence (1959-60), Washington State’s Gerry Lindgren (1966-67), Oregon’s Steve Prefontaine (1970-71), Washington State’s Henry Rono (1976-77), Arkansas’ Godfrey Siamusiye (1995-96), Wisconsin’s Simon Bairu (2004-05) and Liberty’s Sam Chelanga (2009-10) in that exclusive club.

How many of those men completed the three-peat? Try zero. Lindgren, Prefontaine and Rono all won three, but never three in a row. Both Lindgren and Prefontaine redshirted to chase Olympic glory, came back and won the next year; Rono took a wrong turn his junior year and finished fourth to last, but made up for it as a senior.

While Cheserek admitted he knows where he stands among the greatest to ever compete, he said his bigger goal is to be on the podium with his teammates.

“We came here as a team,” Cheserek said. “I’ll try to get a low stick as possible, try to support my team to become their leader and get a trophy. That will be good.”

Like Cheserek, there are high expectations put upon Ostrander’s shoulders.

Coming into the season, everyone knew Ostrander – a freshman from Kenai, Alaska – would be good. Little did they – or she – know that her season would be historical.

Two weeks after finishing second at the Roy Griak Invitational in her debut, Ostrander smashed a course record at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational. Then she won her next two races – the Mountain West Championships and the West Regional – by an average of 17.5 seconds.

If Ostrander wins Saturday, she’ll be the first freshman woman with an NCAA XC title in 30 years. North Carolina State’s Suzie Tuffey last did it in 1985.

“I’m stull kind of shocked by the season I’ve had,” Ostrander said. “It’s been above and beyond my expectations. It’s just been really fun to race against new people and to see what I can do.”

Ostrander highlights an impressive freshman class in NCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country, but there are several seniors who want that crown, namely New Mexico’s Courtney Frerichs, Arkansas’ Dominique Scott and Notre Dame’s Molly Seidel.

Should Seidel be the first woman to cross the finish line on Saturday, she’d break “The Foot Locker Curse.” No woman has ever won the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in high school and then captured NCAA glory.

When asked about that, Seidel brushed it off with, “Sorry. No comment on that.”

But then there’s Frerichs, who is one part of the juggernaut Joe Franklin assembled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Frerichs, Rhona Auckland, Calli Thackery and Alice Wright are a dominant force never before seen and probably never again.

If Franklin lets the Lobos loose on the field at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park, they could very well break the Division I scoring record set in 1981 by Virginia (36 points). Want to know the crazy part? There were only 13 teams in the inaugural women’s championship race 34 years ago, compared to 32 now.

“We haven’t talked about it,” Franklin said about the chance to be one of the greatest teams ever. “We talk about running together and making sure we have a short spread – things that we can control. We can’t control what any of these other teams are going to do. We can control what we can do to the best of our ability.”

Other than being nonchalant about chasing history, the common thread that ties all of these individuals and teams together is that they made it this far. When the gun goes off Saturday, they ticked one more box off of their season’s to-do list.

“This (getting to NCAAs) has been our focus this season,” Ostrander said. “Tomorrow is when we decide who did the most work and is the best on that day.”