Cross country takes huge strides

cross country, Joseph Marlitt, NCAA, regional, Whittier College, Sports - By Joseph Marlitt on Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 02:33

The cross country team has a high sense of confidence going into the NCAA West Regional on Saturday, Nov. 12 as the No. 34 nationally ranked women’s team seeks a second consecutive bid into the NCAA Championships.

The women’s team is led by senior All-American Michele Callaway, who placed third overall and led the Poets team to a third place finish at last year’s regional at Willamette University, Ore. But the playing field is different this year as both Whittier and their rivals La Verne, Occidental and Redlands have improved.

“Our team has certainly been improving this season, but so has the rest of the field,” Head Cross County Coach Greg Phillips said. “SCIAC is better and stronger than the average Division-III conference and qualifying for nationals is always tough to do.”

The women’s team is currently ranked No. 4 in the West Region behind, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Lewis & Clark and Willamette, with Occidental ranked No.7. Last year was the first time since 1994 that the women had qualified for the national tournament.
The best three teams are usually the ones that qualify for nationals, but there is also a chance to receive an at large bid if you come up in fourth. The Poets feel confident about their chances to repeat the feat coming into the meet.

“Last year’s race at Willamette was a magical one,” Phillips said. “But we are returning with the same seven girls that were on our team last year and I think that by believing within themselves that winning is a very achievable goal.”

While individual talent often takes front seat to a team mentality, the Poets rely on the middle of their team to really boost them to the top of the team rankings.

Cross country is like golf in the sense that you want to score as low as possible, and your team’s points are derived from the place in the race that they finish in. The best five times of your seven runners are counted towards your team score.

“We are more of a pack team than a lot of individuals,” Phillips said. “We have to overcome some of the individual strengths that other teams possess by using our depth.”

The men’s team will be searching for their first NCAA Championship appearance in the history of the program. The Poets have come up just short the past two years, finishing fifth in SCIAC for the last two years.

They are led this year by sophomore Hayden Schmidt, who earned second team All-SCIAC honors after he placed 19th overall in the SCIAC championships on Oct. 29.

The Poets finished 8th at Pomona-Pitzer on Oct. 1, 4th at La Mirada Regional Park on Oct. 15 and 5th at Prado Regional Park on Oct. 29.

The Pomona-Pitzer course is a familiar one for the Poets. They have already run a similar course during the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational on Oct. 1 and the course remains relatively the same.

“The course really favors runners who are good at flatter terrain,” runner Marco Leone said. “The course only has a few steep inclines and the rest is either a gradual grade or flat.”
The women’s team placed fourth at the event and Callaway individually placed 17th overall in a field that included runners from out of conference foes such as CS San Marcos, Vanguard and Westmont.

The women will run a 6k and the men will run an 8k through what Phillips hopes will be sunny weather. According to The Weather Channel though, the Poets will be in for a cold and wet race.
“Obviously you hope for the best conditions for the race so you can run to your maximum potential,” Phillips said. “But we know that we have to be prepared for any weather, and last year in Oregon we were able run well in the rain so you hope for a repeat of that.”