An Inside View of the Florida Intercollegiate Championships
Sept. 25, 2001
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – – With our second meet-the FIU Invitational-cancelled last weekend, the Florida Intercollegiate Championships this weekend became our second outing of the season.
Traditionally, the State Championships have been held in October, two weeks before the Big East Championships, but was changed this year in hopes of bringing in more teams. (Florida and South Florida had skipped the meet in previous years opting for bigger meets such as the Pre-National Meet.)
We flew up to Jacksonville the day before the meet and drove over to Tallahassee in time to preview the course the night before. (If you’re wondering, yes, security at the airport seems to have improved. Although, I can say, it’s much less crowded than usual.)
Previewing the 8,000 meter course, it appeared to be very difficult. It was composed of 2 loops: one fairly big hill and a section back through the woods (each run twice). Training in Miami, we hadn’t seen any hills like this all year and expected the course to be a little on the slow side. The footing was pretty undulating, but reasonably hard-packed.
After checking out the course, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed some dinner, and held a team meeting. Two freshmen, Billy Bludgus and Matt Maloney, were making their collegiate debuts, and I think the meeting was helpful in getting everyone focused.
The next morning, we rose at 5:45 a.m. and headed to the course by 6:15. It was still dark out and a misty fog was draped over the course. By 7 a.m. we began our warm-up under the cover of darkness. After finishing our warm-up, it was beginning to get light out, and we stretched and headed over to the starting line.
After the playing of the National Anthem, it was time to go. The first mile revealed everything the course had to offer-a slight downhill, followed by the biggest uphill of the course, leading into the steepest downhill of the course that took us into the woods.
Senior Jeff Gaulrapp led the Hurricanes into the woods, hitting the mile in 4:55. Sophomore Matt Mulvaney and I hit the mile together in 5:06. Mulvaney was looking back-and-forth, hungry to go after the runners in front of us. I was confident we’d move up-I felt really comfortable going out in 5:06, and Mulvaney and I cruised through the woods side by side.
At the 1.5 mile mark, we hit a slight downhill, and I threw in a surge pulling within a couple places of Gaulrapp. Gaulrapp went through 2 miles in 10:12, I was 10:14, and Mulvaney in 10:16. The surge took a bit out of me, and Mulvaney pulled back up to me and passed me at the 2.5 mile mark.
Right after the 2.5 mile mark we hit the ascent-our second time up the course’s biggest climb. Gaulrapp attacked the hill and took off, Mulvaney moved up as well. We came down the hill and headed back for the woods. Gaulrapp and Mulvaney had put some distance on me and were moving up.
We hit the 3.5 mile mark and I tried to pick it back up. I started moving up as well, picking guys off here and there. As I went through the 4 mile mark in 21:08, I hit the slight downhill section of the course again. I could start to feel the finish, and really began to roll down the hill. I came up to a clearing in the woods (which I thought was the finish-it was only the 4.5 mile mark) and somehow kept it rolling for the last half mile, pulling up behind Mulvaney in the last straight.
Up ahead, Gaulrapp had finished 14th in 25:40 (a seasonal best). Mulvaney and I came in 24th and 25th respectively, 26:11 and 26:12. To our surprise, the hard-packed surface made for a relatively fast surface.
Behind us, freshman Danish Ahmad stepped it up from 2 weeks ago, running a personal best of 29:07, nipping another running at the line with a potent finishing kick.Frosh Matt Maloney of New Hampshire, normally a quarter/half miler, ran a solid 29:36 debut, after defecting from the sprinting corps earlier in the week.
Billy Bludgus of New Jersey, also making his collegiate debut, ran strong on the road to recovery coming off a summer stress fracture.
Next weekend we’ll be making up the FIU Invitational that was cancelled last week. That race will take place at FIU on Saturday, September 29, at 6 p.m. (Word around the campfire is that Sophomore Scott Sadowski will be making his season debut. Sadowski missed the first race of the season due to injury and the second race for academic reasons.)
Come on out and support Hurricanes Cross-Country.
