According to LetsRun.com, three-time NCAA All-American Futsum Zienasellassie of Northern Arizona will not compete this cross country season as he has elected to redshirt.

 

Zienasellassie, who was third at NCAA XC last fall, is not injured but has decided to sit out this fall since the Lumberjacks are not expected to compete for a podium spot in 2015 after finishing top-4 the last three seasons. Coach Eric Heins believes his program will be much stronger in 2016 as some of the younger runners gain experience this season. Fellow senior Nathan Weitz (118th NCAA XC ’14) will also sit out this fall for similar reasons.

“Both those guys (Zienasellassie and Weitz) are going to be in school for five years and it will be great to have those guys back for the team and also get some young guys some experience this year. And then bring them back next year to go for another top-four finish,” Heins told Jonathan Gault of LetsRun. 

 

Zienasellassie figured to be two-time defending NCAA XC champion Edward Cheserek’s top competition this fall in the individual battle as the NAU senior was the second-best returner from last year’s championship race in Terre Haute. The Indianapolis, Indiana product has history with the Oregon superstar dating back to high school, as the pair had an epic duel at the 2011 Foot Locker XC Championships, with Cheserek scoring a narrow victory, 14:52 to 14:53.

 

Although Zienasellassie recorded the highest finish of his career last year, he was none too pleased with the slow, tactical nature of the race, which he believed made it too easy for Cheserek to sprint away from the field in the last mile. 

 

“Cheserek is the man, and if he is the man who will sit and kick, people are just going to work on their 200m speed. It always comes down to who is the man at the college level,” Zienasellassie said after NCAAs last year. 

 

With Cheserek’s top competition out of the fold this fall, it seems likely that the Oregon junior will still be “the man” in 2015. We’ll have to wait another year before Cheserek and Zienasellassie battle on the XC course once again.