Young and Hungry: Northern Arizona Men's Cross Country

Aug 25, 2013 by Jimmy Stevenson

At the end of the 2011 cross country season the Northern Arizona men’s cross country team had a long flight back to Flagstaff from Terre Haute. The Lumberjacks finished in 14^th place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, a feat for some teams that would keep them smiling for the ensuing year. Not for NAU, their “rebuilding” year had just begun.

That 2011 team that competed at NCAAs consisted of five seniors, including Diego Estrada and Jordan Chipangama, two of the best runners to go through Coach Eric Heins program. How were the Lumberjacks going to bounce back from their worst finish at NCAAs since 2006 when they didn't even qualify for Nationals?

Note: Eric Heins became the head coach in 2007 and since then he has brought the men's team to NCAAs every year.

2007 - 4th place
2008 - 6th place
2009 - 4th place
2010 - 9th place
2011 - 14th place
2012 - 4th place

Flash forward one year and the NAU squad travels down from altitude to Louisville, Kentucky for the NCAA Championship. Along with the new venue comes an entirely new team. Caleb Hoover was the only member of the 2011 NCAA team that toed the line in Louisville. In addition to only returning one member of the team from the year before, the Lumberjacks were the youngest of the 31 teams at Nationals. They had three freshmen, three sophomores, and one junior.

After getting 14^th at NCAAs in 2011 and losing five seniors then bringing six completely new guys to Nationals the next year, the Lumberjacks got fourth.

For the Dreamers

Just think. What can this team do? They return their entire squad from a 4^th place finish a year earlier led by the two All-Americans Brian Shrader and Futsum Zienasellassie. Along with that comes experience. Seven members of this team have experienced competition at the highest level in the NCAA. Furthermore, come late November each individual will have had another full year to compete with each other and get to know the program. This is huge for the three freshmen from last year – Zienasellassie, Nathan Weitz,and Alejandro Montano as well as the transfers from last year – Shrader (Oregon) and Matt McElroy (Oklahoma State).

For the Doubters

If you’re a pessimist looking for a reason why this team will struggle, I can’t provide you with much. Here’s a bone to chew on though . . .

In 2009 NAU got fourth place at NCAAs and their only senior was their seventh man. You might think at the very least they would get fourth again at NCAAs a year later. It doesn’t always work that easily. Even with Diego Estrada racing at Nationals, NAU got ninth place in 2010.

What will make this year different than 2010?

First and foremost, the main ingredient to improve off their performance from last year is to remain injury free.

Secondly, although they are young bunch, the crew up in Flagstaff is motivated and ready to see what their made of.

"They’re excited about the fact they're all back after finishing fourth. Honestly, I don’t have to do much (to motivate them) as a coach because the guys are so fired up and excited for the season."

In talking about the young team's surprising finish at last year's NCAAs, Heins credited the maturity and selfless attitude of his squad.

"I think the key was how motivated the team was, how well they worked together," said Heins. "There are no egos. Nobody cared who was number one or who was five."

Another thing is, although this team returns everyone, they are not the favorite for the win in Terre Haute. Both, Oklahoma State and Colorado almost return their whole teams as well. Maybe putting unnessesary pressure on themselves was the problem for the NAU team in 2010. Ofcourse they dealt with injuries, but the pressure of living up to expectations might have factored in.

This year's team certainly has more pressure than last year, but no pre-season rankings will have them topping the podium in late November, which could allow the Lumberjacks to run relaxed, which seemed to help the young guns last year.

"There wasn’t a stressful feeling saying if we don’t finish fourth in the country it’s going to be a bad year," said Heins. "It was pretty light-hearted. When they laced them up, the guys were very competitive and they really enjoyed racing and traveling together."

That relaxed atmosphere also helps in keeping the team focused on what's important.

"I think the biggest thing is just keeping people motivated on what they’re doing day to day," said Heins. "And not looking to the end of the year and trying to run the National Championship in August or September."

Prediction

If the Lumberjacks put all the pieces of the puzzle together this fall then breaking up Oklahoma State and Colorado for second place is definitely realistic. We've been so focused on the returners, but the newcomers to Flagstaff could make an immediate impact as well, mainly graduate student Josh Hardin from William and Mary. Hardin has personal bests on the track of 14:04.12 in the 5k and 29:28.07 in the 10k.