2001 BIG EAST Corss Country Championship Review

Dec. 3, 2001

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – – BRONX, NY-As a Seattle native and die-hard Mariner fan, I was none too pleased to be in the Bronx, NY (the locale where the Yankees had ousted the M’s from the baseball playoffs earlier in the week). But likewise, I was also dissatisfied with our cross-country team’s showing at Van Courtlandt Park, the site of the 2001 Big East Championships.

We flew into New York on Thursday and took time perusing the course. As we had been warned, the course was extremely hilly and included a colossal hill, fittingly renowned as “cemetery hill” in the course’s final mile. The surface was hard-packed though, and I found the course to my liking. I felt that I could run well as I had been having good workouts coming into the race.

These preconceptions seemed accurate through 5,000 meters of the 8,000 meter course, then the wheels feel off.

We lined up at the start between Providence and Notre Dame, two top-ten teams nationally. As I took a glance left and right, I told sophomore Matt Mulvaney, ‘we might as well be in Greenville’ (the site of this year’s NCAA Championships).

The race took off and a stampede of 14 teams-about 115 men-headed straight across a large field for approximately the first half mile. About a quarter mile into it, a man directly to my right was clipped and went down, causing a huge pile-up. It looked like most of the Boston College team tripped over him. The tone was set: ruthlessness.

I was feeling good and cruised through the first mile in 4:51, my fastest first mile so far this year, but I felt comfortable. Senior Jeff Gaulrapp, running his final Big East Championship Cross race, was just ahead of me in 4:48, and Mulvaney was 4:50. We were running mid-pack (about 50th or so).

Then the course took to the hills. I was feeling good and was rolling down the steep down-hills. Emerging from the hills, we made it around to the 5k-mark. I was starting to hurt, but was still confident that I could move up. Mulvaney made a move and worked up to Gaulrapp as we entered the hills for a second time.

That’s when it hit me. The extreme pounding had taken a toll on my legs and lower back and I was struggling. Gaulrapp and Mulvaney rolled on, moving up past competitors. I had developed a stitch in my right side and slowly trudged my way up “cemetery hill” wishing someone would dig a grave right there and throw me in it.

By the time I made it to the large open field for the final 600 meters, I’m pretty sure I was in extremis. Somehow, I managed to make it to the finish in 78th in a disappointing 27:22, my slowest time of the year. Up ahead of me, Gaulrapp had finished 37th and Mulvaney was ten places back in 47th (a great improvement over his 73rd place finish of a year ago).

After the race, I mentioned to coach that I wished the course had been 5,000 metersshorter, with barriers.

Frosh Billy Bludgus continued his improvement, running his best race of the year, clocking 29:00-flat. It was a nice step forward for him as the team’s number 4 man.

Danish Ahmad and Matt “The Moose” Maloney learned just how competitive the Big East conference is in their first go at the championships event, finishing 5th and 6th for the team.

The race marked the end of the season for the three freshmen and myself, as we will not be continuing on to Regionals. Senior Jeff Gaulrapp and Soph Matt Mulvaney will continue on however, traveling to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for a crack at an individual bid to Nationals on November 10th. In order to qualify individually they’ll have to finish among the top 3 individuals not on a qualifying team.

Best of luck to them, and I’ll see you in track…