2002 Alabama Men's Cross Country Season Preview
9/5/2002 12:00:00 AM
 |
|
For third year men’s cross country coach Joe Walker, the key to this past summers training regime, at least for his top two returnees, was less mileage, not more.
The senior duo of David Kimani, of Nairobi, Kenya, and Peter Kiprono, of Eldoret, Kenya, were both hobbled by injuries last season, though both made it through the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. This summer, Walker prescribed rest for Kimani’s Achilles and the stress fracture in Kiprono’s back.
And if that duo is healthy, Alabama is set for another good year in cross country. Kimani has been a force to reckon with since his rookie season when he won the NCAA cross country title. As a sophomore, running in the bitter cold of Ames, Iowa, the lanky Kenyan finished fourth nationally.
Last year a strained Achilles kept him from finishing the national championship race, but a healthy Kimani is a strong favorite to win the NCAA Championship, which would be his seventh career NCAA title. In addition to his cross country title in 2000, Kimani has won five NCAA championships on the track, including last year’s 5k race.
“We were really conservative this summer with David’s training,” Walker said. “He ran three races early in the summer and then took a whole month off. He will likely sit out the first two meets and then we’ll get him in the mix for the end of the season. With Peter it was the same, we were more concerned with his back healing. Both those guys needed rest more than mileage at this point.”
The make up of this year’s team is heavy in seniors and freshmen with just one sophomore representing the middle classes. Senior Todd Fayant, from Spokane, Wash., should reprise his role in the Tide’s top-5.
The rookie duo of Peter Etoot, from Nakuru, Kenya, and Tyler Stanfield, of Homewood, Ala., should fill out the Tide’s top-5. Etoot has the potential to step in for the departed Japheth Koech, an All-SEC runner who was No. 3 for the Tide last year and who was at his best come championship season.
Also returning this season will be senior Ryan Kyranakis, of Mobile, Ala. and the Tide’s lone sophomore Kevin McDonough, an Auburn, Ala. native. Mobile, Ala. native Joseph Herring, a regular in Alabama’s top-5 last year, will likely redshirt this season, finishing out his eligibility in the fall of 2003.
Joining Etoot and Stanfield in the freshman class will be Birmingham’s Nathan Putnam and Aaron Norton from Bath, Maine.
“Of course I’d like to have more balance in the classes,” Walker said. “The way it’s set up right now, we have to have some of the freshmen come in and make an immediate impact. Of course, we’ve recruited some athletes that can do just that, so we should be in pretty good shape.”
Alabama’s men come into 2002 after a second place SEC finish, a NCAA South Regional title and a 29th place Kimani-less finish at the NCAA Championships. Walker sees his crew returning to the national top-25 and battling Arkansas in Southeastern Conference competition.
“We have a chance to be pretty good,” Walker said. “A lot of it depends on getting and staying healthy, but that’s the same for everyone. On a conference level, we’ll get to see Arkansas several times during the regular season, which will give us a boost going into the end of the year.”
