Sam Chelanga, a Liberty Flame, has already placed 16^th at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships with Fairleigh Dickinson as the top freshman in the field. After a year away, running blazing unattached track times of 13 minutes, 24 seconds for the 5,000-meter run and 28:15 for the 10,000, Chelanga looks to make 2008 his year to use his killer talent and win an individual championship.

You obviously won Paul Short by a substantial amount of time, something like 40 seconds. What did that do for your personal confidence?

Well, that just tells me that my training has been going well. It gives me some confidence.

Do you like being a favorite to win the NCAA Championship?

No. I appreciate it, but it puts me under more pressure. I don't like pressure. I handle it well, just when everyone is looking at you, you feel a little nervous.

Can you talk about how your training has evolved? I was talking to your teammate, Jarvis Jelen, and he told me that when you ran your 13:24 and 28:15 last year you weren't training nearly as hard as you are right now.

I wasn't serious about it. One thing that's really changed is now I don't run on the roads. Like on concrete surfaces. We have trails in Virginia. And then I upped my mileage. I used to do like 60 miles a week at FD (Fairleigh Dickinson). Now I'm up to 80 to 110.

Have you done any hard workouts yet this year?

No, not yet. Just a couple tempo runs.

So the best is yet to come as far as your fitness is concerned?

I think right now my endurance is well. I will just work on speed...like next.

Do you have anyone to do your tempo runs with?

I do them with David, you know David Cheromei?

Yup. He can keep up with you on those?

He helps a lot.

What would it be like for Liberty University to have back to back individual NCAA Champions

Wow. That would be awesome. That would be overwhelming. Just beyond my thinking right now.

Can you go into the whole process of how you transferred to Liberty from FD?

It, to me, I think it went well. I chose the school I wanted to go to. One thing that I wanted was a place where I had a lot of teammates. I'm also Christian, so that's another thing I was looking into. When I finally got here I got the support I needed, so I'd say it went well. It was stressful, but I got over it.

Do you really wish you had ran last year or are you just making the best out of the situation and running for the moment?

Oh, yeah. Last year we were doing really well in training. Josh (McDougal) and I thought we might have been able to do something better, but it's always not too late. I can always still catch up.

When I interviewed Josh last year, he said he might not even be the fastest guy on his team. Meaning you, obviously, last year! Now that you've significantly bumped up your training...that's pretty exciting. Like the sky is the limit for what you can accomplish.

I'm just really excited. I'm doing some stuff that I've never done before. I'm excited and I'm expecting something good.

When you say, “stuff you've never done before”, can you go into that specifically?

I mean like doing high mileage. Like 110 a week in singles. Like you push yourself. Last year I was doing like whatever, like training...I don't even care much. But now I'm paying so much attention. I've never been this serious before. It should translate to something better.

So, I think this is an interesting question to ask. What kind of training were you specifically doing last outdoor season around your 13:24 and 28:15? You were in the 60s for mileage?

Ahh, 70s. I was just doing it. Basically just trying to help out the guys on the team.

How is the team looking right now? Jordan McDougal took top 10 at Paul Short, he wasn't too far behind you.

I don't want to be pessimistic, but we have a first, a second, and a third guy. But we have a little problem with the fourth, fifth and sixth guy. It would be pretty hard for us to make it to NCAAs, but we're doing good. We're tight and we're working on that now.

Your brother Joshua (a world-class marathoner), what's he been up to lately?

I was talking to him about two weeks ago and he was telling me that he was trying to get into the NYC Marathon. Maybe he might come to New York.

What kind of shape is he in right now?

He was unclear about that. He just said he was doing well. I don't know what that means.

That could mean he's in 2:07 shape.

He's probably in 2:08 shape or something crazy.

Can you give me some of your essential running gear? Shoes, an Ipod, lucky running shorts?

My school is sponsored by Asics, so I just use the Asics Nimbus. I kind of like the new Nike Zoom Victorys.

You don't run with an Ipod?

I run with one on my easy runs, but not on my regular runs.

You've got that Falwell Trail down there that's mostly good on the legs, right? You do most of your runs on that?

The Falwell Trail I do my fartlek runs on, but we have the Blackwater Creek trails, that's where we do most of our runs.

So, you're never on the roads then?

Right.

What are your goals for this next outdoor track season?

It's far away, but I definitely want to improve on my 10. Run in like the 27:40s. Then, in the 5K, I want to break the school record, which is 13:20.

Oh, that's Josh McDougal's! Is there some friendly competition going on there?

(Laughs) I didn't want to mention him, but you mentioned it first, so it's OK.

What's the hardest workout you can remember doing?

It was going uphill, doing hills. It was me, Robert Cherioyot, my brother, and some other guys. I did them all. I ran with Robert Cherioyot for the last one and it was awesome. I will always remember that.

What do you do when you're not running and you're not going to class?

Sometimes I hang out with my friends and we play Mafia or watch movies. (Laughs)

You play Mafia?

Yeah, with my friends. (Laughs)

What's that? Is it a video game?

I don't know why you don't know it, but it's a really cool game. You use the cards that you use for poker. Everybody gets a card. Let's say you have 20 people in the room, four of the people get Js. If you get a J, you're in the Mafia. People close their eyes, then the Mafia opens their eyes and people open their eyes and close their eyes. You look at their eyes then you go hiding. The Mafia will go around killing people, if you're not mafia, you watch over the other people. Whenever you see the Mafia killing a person, you caught the body and you yell “dead body” and you try to find out who was the Mafia and who was killing the people. You're trying to get the Mafia out of the game or the Mafia will kill all of you. It's fun. We play different, so it's complicated. I'll show you some day.

Can you give me a crazy running story?

I remember the first race I did. It was at Van Cortlandt Park. It was the first race of the season and you know Van Cortlandt Park, right?

Yeah, I think I'm going there this weekend.

Awesome. We started the race. But before, my coach told me that this is my race strategy. “You're going to go out hard for the first 800 meters and then relax. Then you're going to go the big loop and come back. When you're on the second loop, you're going to make a move on Cemetery Hill.” You know that place right?

Yup.

So, the way he was explaining it. I thought this was going to be the hardest race ever in my life. I'm like, “all right, it's time to go.” I got to 800 meters, and I was sure I'd hit 800 meters. I look back for people on the other team and there's no one around me. I look back and there's a 10-meter gap. There's nobody. I keep on running by myself and go through the woods. It was a small meet, so there weren't a lot of people around the woods. I go through the first loop and made a right. You know how you cross the bridge and make a right to the big loop?

Yup.

When I was at the back of the big loop the first time, I was like, “wait a minute, I don't even see anybody. There's no one there. I'm lost.” So, I was like “Oh, crap. I should just go back.” I start walking back and I'm like “This sucks, my first race and I screw up like this.” And I'm walking back and I'm like, “wait a minute!” and the guys are running towards me. I just jogged back and started running again.

(Laughs) I don't mean to laugh at you. That's just a funny story.

I know it's funny.

Are you looking at the top spot for the NCAA Meet?

I always think you have to do it now or you may never do it again. So, basically, that means I train as hard as I can and do everything possible that can make me win. Like when people say I train to win. Obviously I'm going to go out there and the sky is the limit. You always want to win. You don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to give it the best shot I can give it. If I finish top-five or top-10 then that will be OK.