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Chris Lang wrote:We'll have a story on Josh and what happened at the SE regional running in Monday's fishwrap as a lead-in to the NCAA championships. I'll be up in Terre Haute Monday to cover the race, so look for some in-depth coverage in Tuesday's paper of Josh's day at nationals.
I guess that means we can't get a hint as to what happened ahead of time, huh?
Thanks for your work with XC. LU has really been put on the map in the running community. This will only help.
Josh McDougal will compete for a national title on Monday.
November 17, 2006
Lynchburg, Va.
Junior Josh McDougal has won a lot of cross country races during his three years at Liberty; 18 to be exact. At 1:15 p.m. on Monday, he will get the chance to capture the one title that has eluded him so far, when he competes at the NCAA Division I National Cross Country Championship in Terre Haute, Ind.
McDougal (Peru, N.Y.) placed 13th at the national meet as a freshman and took fourth a season ago, earning two of his six career All-American honors. He entered the 2006 season as one of the chief contenders to take this year’s national title and he has not disappointed, crossing the finish line first at the Roy Griak Invitational (Sept. 23) and the Pre-Nationals (Oct. 14) among his five victories.
The 5-9 junior did suffer a defeat in his last race, taking second place to Eastern Kentucky’s Jacob Korir at Saturday’s NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championship. That setback marked the first time McDougal has lost a collegiate cross country race outside of the national meet. Liberty Head Cross Country Coach Brant Tolsma does not think that McDougal will be negatively affected by that experience though.
“I think Josh is good at putting things behind him,” Tolsma explained. “He realizes that a lot depends on the particular day. Also, Josh has been losing one race each cross country season so far in his career. He would like to continue that trend.”
McDougal had defeated Korir in their first two meetings this season, at the Greater Louisville Classic (Sept. 30) and the Pre-Nationals. However, the senior from Kenya was able to traverse the soggy terrain a bit more effectively than McDougal was on Saturday. The conditions should be much drier on Monday at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, as the preliminary weather forecast calls for sun and a high of 43 degrees.
Korir is one of several chief contenders for the national championship, along with Wisconsin senior Chris Solinsky, BYU senior Josh Rohatinsky and Providence senior Martin Fagan.
Solinsky must be considered a contender despite his sixth-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional Championship because he finished just ahead of McDougal in third at last year’s national meet and is aiming to help the Badgers defend their team title. He is the top returnee from the 2005 meet, as last year’s champion, Wisconsin’s Simon Bairu and the runner-up, Iona’s Richard Kiplagat, both graduated.
Rohatinsky finished first at the Mountain Regional Championship and took sixth at last year’s national meet. He is undefeated this season. Fagan, a native of Ireland, is the Northeast Regional champion and placed 16th in Terre Haute a season ago. He captured the title in the Pre-Nationals Blue race and is the BIG EAST champion.
If McDougal can outlast this talented field and win the national championship on Monday, he would become Liberty’s second Division I national champion. Assistant Cross Country Coach Heather (Sagan) Zealand won the mile at the 2002 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships.
“Josh’s goal since he came to college has been to win nationals,” noted Tolsma. “He’s going out there with the goal of winning the race. Winning the national title in cross country is probably far superior to winning in track, because you are going against all of the best distance runners. On that day, you are the best runner in the country.”
This would be HUGE for the program and the university!
The race is set to start in 5 minutes. Word is the course is somewhat muddy which should favor a runner like Josh. (Of course, at this level, there are several runners like Josh!)
My guess...Josh takes the lead just after half way and doesn't look back.
At 5k he was in the lead pack at 15:19. By 8k he had fallen behind the leaders by 30 seconds in 24:55. The winner was Josh Rohatinsky from BYU in 30:44.9. On a side note, he is the first NCAA XC champ over the age of 30. (I am 99% sure on that one).
Just got back to Indy ... Josh said nothing felt right today, said he was never in the race. He was in the middle pack for a bit, but he said "it may have looked like I was hanging in there, but I wasn't."
He was really, really disappointed with the result.
This has got to be tough on Josh. All runners know the feeling of training your tail off for months with one goal in mind, only to fall short. Of course, most runners never have the opportunity to excell at the level he has in his first 2+ years in college. Hopefully he will be able to shake this off and be even more hungry heading into indoor and, more importantly, outdoor. [cue the dumb "you had a bad day" song]
By the way, Josh's bad day was still good enough to earn him his 7th All-American honor.
If you want to talk about completely blowing up in a race, check Chris Solinski. One of the pre-race favorites finished in 75th place. (Of course, his 10k time was still better than my PR)
Solinksy's showing had me searching the net for rumors of a fall in the middle of the race or a case of food poisoning among the runners (several other runners had very bad days)...it is weird that both of the favorites this year (3rd & 4th last year) faded from the race, albeit Josh less so than Solinksy.
Kid ran maybe a sub 5:00 in the mile, close to 10 in the two mile in highschool. Grew up and played baseball in highschool until junior year. Walks on at the local university then goes on to be third at nationals. True story
Here is Chris' story on Josh's disappointing day from Terre Haute:
NCAA meet 'devastating' for McDougal
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
November 21, 2006
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Something just wasn't right Monday, Josh McDougal said. That was painfully obvious at the end of the race, when the Liberty cross country standout broke the finish line in 27th place, his face ashen, his zombie eyes portraying just how grueling his NCAA championship run was.
"OK, Liberty, move to the side!" one harrowed championship official yelled in the chute, the narrow area where runners convene, collapse and sometimes puke at the end of the meet. But McDougal couldn't move on his own accord. He fell limply into the arms of a volunteer, who pulled him away from the trampling mass of runners finishing the race.
Against a chain link fence, she asked him, "are you OK?" McDougal didn't respond. Instead, he flopped to the cold, muddy earth and tried to regain his composure. Breathing erratic, legs turned to a wobbly mess, McDougal was close to catatonic. As athletes around him vomited, McDougal finally was able to sit up.
Then he lost his breakfast.
"I'm usually hurting at the line," McDougal said. "But I don't know. There was just nothing in the tank."
Finally in a show of athletic fellowship, William & Mary's Christo Landry offered a hand and helped McDougal up, away from the prying eyes of fans and media, into a tent to gather his belongings.
McDougal wasn't eager to face the press after the race. The championships marked a stunning end to an otherwise fantastic 2006 campaign, only he won't remember the wins at pre-nationals and at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational. Nor will he fondly recall winning a Big South championship.
All he'll remember is the disaster at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.
"Devastating," McDougal said of the run, which he finished in 31:34.6.
Was he being a little too hard on himself? It seems that way, but consider what McDougal had accomplished in his first two years. He took 13th as a freshman, earning All-American honors and splashing onto the national running scene. Last year, he improved nine places, taking fourth after setting the early pace and fading slightly at the end. Only one returning runner, Wisconsin's Chris Solinsky, finished ahead of McDougal last year.
So one could understand why McDougal would consider 27th place a major disappointment. He still earned All-America honors as one of the top 25 American runners in the race.
"It doesn't matter though," McDougal said. "That wasn't my goal."
McDougal couldn't explain exactly what went wrong. Nor could Greg Jimmerson, the former Stanford runner and Liberty assistant who handled much of McDougal's training for nationals.
McDougal said last week that Jimmerson had tapered his training some, lightening his mid-week mileage to try to keep his legs fresh for nationals. At the Southeast regional, McDougal finished second behind Eastern Kentucky's Jacob Korir, who took seventh Monday.
A lot of factors went into that finish, McDougal said. For one, the Kenyan Korir has lots of natural talent. That race was in Louisville, and the Flames bussed the nine hours or so to Kentucky for the meet.
Were his legs tired after the long, cramped bus trip? Did he eat enough the day before the race? Did he make sure to stay properly hydrated on the bus? All those questions rattled through McDougal's mind.
Did he face the same sort of issues Monday? Probably not, since he flew to Indiana Saturday. "There's just been something wrong the last two weeks," he said. "Something's been messed up. I've got to figure it out and correct it for next year. We'll have to look back and see what we can do."
The soggy course was sloppy. Runners hit the finish line caked in mud and wore cleats with half-inch spikes to gain traction. Unlike in the women's race, when Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego blew past the field in the first kilometer and turned the race into a rout, no lead pack in the men's race materialized until the 5K mark. BYU's Josh Rohatinsky won with a time of 30:14.9, nearly 1? minutes slower than 2005 champ Simon Bairu's mark.
McDougal was in 32nd at the 2K mark and moved to 12th at the halfway point, sticking with the lead pack.
"I may have looked like I was there, but I could never get in it," McDougal said.
Rohatinsky made a move at the 8K mark and McDougal had nothing left to mount a charge. He fell into a secondary pack as runners surged ahead. Jimmerson said McDougal worked a lot on his speed during the season, but it didn't matter Monday.
With the mud sapping the energy from weary legs, the strongest runners survived. Three of the top four finishers - Rohatinsky, Southern Utah's Jess Baumgartner and Northern Arizona's Lopez Lomong - train regularly at high altitude, where end-of-race strength is at a premium.
"We figured it would come down to a kick between him and a fast guy like Solinsky," Jimmerson said. "But with the course the way it was today, it was definitely a strength runners' course."
Jimmerson can empathize with what McDougal went through Monday. He finished sixth in the NCAAs as a Stanford sophomore only to sink to 23rd the next season.
"I was able to come back and get fourth as a senior," Jimmerson said. "Hopefully, Josh will have the same experience. It's not fun to go through, but sometimes it does refocus you and re-motivate you. For me, my training got a little more intense. A lot of it, I think, was just mental. After finishing that highly as a sophomore, it was easy to put the pressure on yourself. Sometimes, that pressure is just to deal with for anybody.
"He's still the same guy he was for the last year. He's still obviously capable of being one of the top two or three runners."
At the very least, McDougal finished ahead of Solinsky, who stunningly finished 73rd.
That's little consolation for McDougal, who expected so much more on a cold Indiana Monday.
Tough break, the body can be a fickle thing, especially for runners. Hopefully, they can iron out the wrinkles and come back for a senior win. (It is eerie though that Jimmerson had an almost identical experience when he competed, even down to the Junior year similarity.) Anyway, some great duels on the track are forthcoming as he'll be facing many of the same guys in the national track meets.
Here's to LUXC landing some high caliber recruits, fostering a large walk-on pool and qualifying for nationals in McDougal 1's last year.
Liberty has been honored as the 2006 recipient of the Big South Conference’s Team Sportsmanship Award for men’s cross country, it was announced today by Big South Commissioner Kyle B. Kallander. The Lady Flame harriers received the same distinction on Tuesday.
Coach Brant Tolsma’s Flames, which won its second-straight New Balance Big South Men’s Cross Country Championship in November, received six first-place votes and 20 points. High Point and VMI shared second place in the voting with 10 points apiece.
The team awards are voted on by Big South student-athletes and are awarded at the end of each competitive season. Teams cannot vote for themselves.
“The Big South Conference places great emphasis on the values of sportsmanship and fair play,” said Kallander. “The creation of these awards appropriately recognizes those student-athletes and coaches within the conference that are leaders in exemplifying these values.”
The Liberty cross country teams have now captured three out of four Big South Conference Team Sportsmanship Awards since the program was instituted at the beginning of the 2005-06 athletic season.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
The Lady Flames celebrate their Big South Championship.
December 5, 2006
Charlotte, N.C.
Liberty has been voted the 2006 recipient of the Big South Conference’s Team Sportsmanship Award for women’s cross country, it was announced today by Big South Commissioner Kyle B. Kallander. The Lady Flame harriers become the first Big South squad to win back-to-back team sportsmanship awards and increases Liberty’s total team sportsmanship honors to four since the Big South began its Sportsmanship Awards Program in 2005-06.
Coach Brant Tolsma’s Lady Flames, which won the 2006 New Balance Big South Women’s Cross Country Championship in November – its first since 2000 -- received three first-place votes and 16 points, ahead of second-place Coastal Carolina, which received two first-place votes and 10 points. VMI was third in the voting with two first-place votes and nine points, while Charleston Southern and Radford each received a first-place nod.
The team awards are voted on by Big South student-athletes and are awarded at the end of each competitive season. Teams cannot vote for themselves.
“The Big South Conference places great emphasis on the values of sportsmanship and fair play,” said Kallander. “The creation of these awards appropriately recognizes those student-athletes and coaches within the conference that are leaders in exemplifying these values.”
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
Liberty Men’s and Women’s Harriers Honored as NCAA Division I All-Academic Teams
Release: 02/23/2007
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Liberty men’s and women’s cross country squads have been named as NCAA Division I All-Academic Cross Country Teams. The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced the awards this afternoon.
The Liberty men’s harriers earned the distinction on the basis of their 3.205 team GPA. A total of 86 teams were included on the national list, but the Flames were the only Big South Conference squad to achieve all-academic status. Liberty’s GPA was bolstered by Drew Ponder (Jr., Colonial Heights, Va.), who was selected to the Big South All-Academic Team. Iona was named the NCAA Division I All-Academic Men’s Cross Country Team of the Year.
On the women’s side, the Lady Flames compiled a 3.328 team GPA, making them one of 145 teams honored nationally. Coastal Carolina and Winthrop were the only other conference schools on the list. Piper Newby (Jr., Hayden Lake, Idaho) not only enjoyed a breakthrough season on the course, but also aided Liberty’s results in the classroom as a Big South All-Academic Team member. National champion Stanford won the NCAA Division I All-Academic Women’s Cross Country Team of the Year award.
Since this thread had a pretty good life of its own over in the "OTHER SPORTS" forum, I figured I'd move it over here for you avid XC guys who are already taking your new forum and "running" with it
(sorry )
Carry on!
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
Congrats to the ladies as well! Great job
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