Tide Men's Cross Country Heads to NCAA Championships
11/17/2005 12:00:00 AM
Thursday, November 17, 2005
 |
|
Following a South Region Championship and a runner-up finish at the SEC Championships, the Alabama men’s cross country team is flying high heading into next week’s NCAA Championships.
The Tide returns to the NCAA Championship after a two-year hiatus and Coach Joe Walker is pleased with the team’s return to the elite.
“From a personal standpoint it feels great,” said Walker. “After having a low last year as far as where we expect our team to be, our expectations are to always be there to win a title like at the South Region Championships. To kind of come from what we’ve done in the past, to a down year last year, to come back is a great feeling.”
The Tide is led by a slew of freshmen including newly crowned SEC Freshman of the Year Augustus Maiyo. The freshman trio of Maiyo, Abraham Kutingala and Titus Koeh finished in the top four in all six of the Tide’s meets this year and four times they comprised Alabama’s top three finishers.
“I think Coach Glance and myself, and Shawn (Beitelspacher) and Peter Kiprono, everybody associated with the program have done a good job of explaining to those guys what it’s all about,” said Walker. “They in turn have done a good job of becoming the core of the team. We’ve got great leadership from those guys that are freshmen.
“We kind of talk to the them about ??Hey it’s a big meet at the regional championships, a bunch of numbers, 27 teams, but the quality at the front is no different than what we’ve seen all year. You guys are going to get right there, right where we need to be and you’ll be fine.’ Now the NCAA Championships, it’s a whole new experience; it’ll definitely be different for us. Our guys are completely used to being able to get themselves into position easily and at this meet, it’s a little different. You’ve got to work and find ways to move, it’s a different field.”
Alabama enters the meet as the 11th ranked team in the country but Walker said he’s not satisfied with sitting on their ranking, but instead hopes for a Top 10 finish.
“We set the bar high. We’re ranked 11th in the country and we fully expect to not only finish there, but to have a chance to finish in the Top 10. All of us feel like we’re capable of being a top 10 team. Now to say we’ll be down if we’re not that’s not completely accurate, we’ve had a great season. No doubt if we come out of there and we’re in the Top 15 we’ll be pleased and ready to go at it again next year.
The 10k race will be run in Terre Haute, Indiana on Monday. It’s scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. CT.
