Men's Cross Country Week That Was: Week 7
10/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
Oct. 6, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama men's cross country coach Joe Walker led the Crimson Tide through their seventh week of practice and the Bill Dellinger Invitational. The squad's focus of training is still aerobic but they'll add in some hills, tempo and some repeats later this week.
"Going out to the west coast to face Oregon was a very positive experience in the sense that we had to deal with travel, Walker said. "We now will be able to refocus and know that we are very close to being where we need to be but, we'll need to understand that there is such a fine line between being very good and being a champion."
The Crimson Tide finished third as a team in Oregon by placing four runners in the top 11 and being led by senior All-American Augustus Maiyo who crossed the line in fourth covering the 8,000 meter course in 24:12.70. The Tide competed against No. 1 Oregon, No. 7 Portland, No. 17 Texas-El Paso, No. 23 Cal Poly and UCLA (also receiving votes).
The Tide also sent athletes to Auburn and was led by freshman Stephen Payne who crossed the line in 70th running a career best 24:40.18.
"The off weekend will be good for the guys mentally and physically after the long west coast trip," Walker said. "Our mindset for Pre-NCAA is to go compete very tough on the same course we'll see in November. We want to focus on running as a group in a very large field.
The Tide will take a week off before competing again at the Pre-NCAA Invitational on Oct. 14. The squad will once again race against many of the top ranked teams in the nation on the same course that the NCAA Championships will be run on. This is the same course Alabama posted a sixth place team finish in 2007. It is the highest finish in school history.
