Stanford Cardinal, Jake Riley, a redshirt freshman, looks the lead his squad to another top place finish at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. He kicked off the season with a second-place finish at the USF Invitational.

How's your training going right now?

Training is going really well right now, I started keeping a log for the first time this summer because Coach Dunn requires it and I felt like it really focused me. I've been running more mileage than I ever have before, and aside from a few aches and pains here and there I'm feeling really strong.

Can you get into any specifics about how a week's training is going right now?

Well for starters it’s a lot different than what we had under Peter. As far as I know Peter’s training was pretty unique and I realize now that we were pretty pampered under him. Now we’ve got a much more in depth core and drills circuit, we run seven days a week as opposed to six, we have a long run, pretty standard stuff but we didn’t have that under Peter. I’m not going to go any farther than that just to be safe, but we’re definitely challenging ourselves.

Stanford just pulled an 11th-place pre-season placer. Is that where you want to be?

It’s definitely not where we see ourselves at the end of the season, but considering how we placed last season and who we lost, I can see where they’re coming up with their numbers. But honestly, I’m going over these questions with Brendan Gregg, and this is the first time we heard about the rankings. We don’t really pay attention to the rankings, and I think anyone who does is going to be in for some surprises come November.

How is your team looking? A killer top seven?

It’s really up in the air right now. We’ve got a great group of strong fifth-year returners from last year who’ll definitely be in the mix. But we’re also a pretty young team with a monster freshman class that’s chomping at the bit to get out and race, plus the red shirt freshmen from last year. I’d have a better answer after some more races, but however it plays out we’re going to be really strong across the board.

Did you watch the Olympics this summer? Stanford alumni Ryan Hall was there. How was that for you?

While they were on I did pretty much nothing but watch the Olympics, gymnastics, swimming, archery...you name it. One of the coolest things about being at Stanford is that connection to guys like Ryan Hall and Ian Dobson (both of which I got to meet at our training camp which was awesome). Just knowing that I’m running on the same trails they did is a pretty cool feeling. I was kind of disappointed about the finish, but I don’t know what you can do when some guy goes starts pushing way under the expected pace and just doesn’t come back.

You're from Washington and with your high school times you must have had a lot of options. Why did you choose Stanford?

To be honest I don’t know how I could have chosen anywhere else. It’s in a great location. San Francisco is probably one of the coolest cities in the US. The weather is great almost year round, the academics are phenomenal, while at the same time you’re part of not only one of the best distance programs in the country, but also overall athletic programs. Plus they have a great financial aid program and the guys on the team are awesome. For me it was pretty much a no-brainer. I know I sound like a Stanford brochure, but anyone who visits here will tell you the same thing.

What are your thoughts on fellow statesman Gerry Lindgren?

I have a lot of Washington pride, too much some of my teammates would say, so I’m all for anyone who can represent Washington running well. I’m going to stay away from his personal life, but anyone who can run 200 miles a week and still stand is a champion in my book, and it just shows you how baller Washingtonians can be.

What are you studying at Stanford?

It’s not completely set in stone yet but I’m pretty certain I’m going to major in Biomechanical Engineering, and maybe to become a doctor. Maybe not. We’ll see.

What is some essential running gear for you?

I have a Timex Ironman watch I got as a birthday present and it’s probably my favorite piece of clothing...even outside of running. I have to have shorts without a thick hem, otherwise I chafe like a madman. I train in the Nike Structure Triax, but I’m happiest in the lightest pair of spikes possible. My top two are probably the old Kennedy track spikes and the Ventulus Plus.

What does your diet consist of?

It’s nothing formal and I don’t really pay attention to it except to make sure I’m getting some kind of fruit and some kind of vegetable at every meal. I try to keep it to one dessert like thing a day and stay away from soda. Other than that, I love bacon and apple juice...not necessarily together, but in general. And before I run, it’s almost always a Clif Bar.

Is the food decent at Stanford?

From what I hear, we’re pretty lucky here. The food in the dining halls is really good. By the end of the year last year, I was a little tired of having similar food every week, but there’s enough variety that you can go a long time without getting bored. The place I’m living this year has a single chef for like 60 people, and the food is even better than the dining halls, so I’m pretty excited about that.

Jessie Spano, from Saved By The Bell, always wanted to go to Stanford. Is it all it's cracked up to be?

I think my answer to the question about why I chose Stanford should answer that. But, yes, Stanford is awesome in almost every way. I would be totally happy going here even if I weren’t running. My only problem with it is that we don’t have a cool little college street with like grungy coffee shops and weird bookstores and restaurants. Palo Alto is a really rich area and main campus is pretty far from it anyway so I feel like I’m missing out on something with that, but hell, I can just go to San Fran for that kind of stuff.

What races will you be competing in this season? A tentative schedule?

We have the Stanford Invite in about a week which is always fun, especially since it’s now going to be the site of the regional race this year. After that we have Pre Nats at Terra Haute then Pac 10s at Oregon then regionals here. And then nationals back at Terra Haute.

What's the hardest workout you've ever done?

Under Peter we had a workout where we went on a 40-minute tempo then came back. Did a six-minute jog then ran a 1K as fast as we could. Back in high school, we once did three by three sets of 300m intervals all out which was pretty hard too.

Can you give me a story from your running past? The craziest and least appropriate please?

This didn’t happen to me but a guy on the team once went into a port o potty before our cool down. As we were jogging down he asks really nonchalantly if anyone of has ever gotten our junk in poo before. Turns out someone had semi missed the toilet and gotten some poop on the seat. Our guy's junk then touched it while he was doing his business. He said later that is was really weird. He was used to wiping behind, but this time he had to wipe the front as well.