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2003
NCAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS by Parker Morse
When you have a winning formula, why change it? That's how Shalane Flanagan approached the NCAA Championships. Before the race, she explained to reporters that she saw being the defending champion as more of an advantage than a source of pressure. "I look forward to running tomorrow. I think I have a lot of people cheering for me, and a lot of support, because I'm the defending champion. It gives me a lot of confidence. I think it's good for me, and I look forward to, hopefully, winning again." Shalane, at least, added the conditional, "Hopefully." Michaela Mannova of BYU suggested that she believed the race was for second. Everything was in Flanagan's favor, right down to the weather; of the leading contenders, only Flanagan brought in a positive experience from the Siberian conditions of the 2000 Championships in Ames, Iowa. It would take more than chilling wind to slow her down. What's more, Flanagan had cleaned house convincingly in 2002, and there was no indication from her season to date that she was any more vulnerable in 2003. When the race finally got underway, chasing her was problematic. Long before the first corner, nearly a half mile out, Flanagan had opened a gap on the rest of the field, with only Providence's Kim Smith keeping pace. The two stuck together through the mile, and just about where Flanagan pulled away from Briana Shook in '02, she did the same to Smith in '03. "After the first mile was when I felt my best. I really wanted to attack the hills," which came in the second mile. Smith, who like Flanagan, also arrived in Waterloo undefeated, was left to "try to keep the gap from getting any bigger." Flanagan was a champion before halfway, with nothing left to do but stay on her feet. Afterward, Flanagan was greeted by hugs from friends and family, and finally by one from former champion (1997) Carrie Tollefson, who then interviewed Flanagan for the Fox telecast. A Villanova grad, Tollefson pointed out the milestone: the last athlete to win consecutive championships was Villanova's Carole Zajac in 1992 and 1993, exactly ten years before Flanagan. She was the third to manage the feat, the other also being a 'Nova grad, Sonia O'Sullivan in 1990 and 1991. (Betty Jo Springs of North Carolina State won the 1981 and 1983 titles, making Flanagan only the fourth two-time women's champion.)
The open question now becomes, what's next for Flanagan? She made plans long ago to redshirt the upcoming indoor and outdoor seasons, passing up the defense of her indoor 3,000m title and a Lauren Fleshman-free outdoor 5,000m in order to train for the Olympic Track Trials. Currently the fifth-ranked athlete in the 5,000m, Flanagan is a strong contender to leap directly from the NCAA to an Olympic team at age 22. Joining her NCAA rival Lauren Fleshman, a World Championship finalist whose three consecutive 5,000m titles are a string as impressive as Flanagan's twin cross country titles, four of the 10 women currently qualified for the Trials 5,000m are either current NCAA athletes or recent graduates. (Stanford's Alicia Craig and Colorado's Sara Gorton are the others.) One explanation for the number of collegiate athletes on the list is simply that many star pros were injured in 2003 and didn't put up qualifying marks. Another is that many collegiate athletes are racing from the best coaching and training situation they may ever have. Flanagan, Fleshman and Gorton may, with strong Trials performances, launch themselves into the upper echelons of U.S. runners without getting caught in the frustrating struggle to make the rent and still train to their potential. Meanwhile, there are months before the Trials, and Flanagan is contemplating another international option: making a Senior team for the World Cross Country championships. A member of the Junior team in 2000, Flanagan could only benefit from another taste of international competition. The women's team race, expected to be tight between Stanford and BYU, was significantly less clear-cut than the individual race. Stanford's Alicia Craig, the 10,000m champion in the spring, tried to maintain contact with Flanagan and Smith early in the race, but the wind she ran with so often as a Wyoming high schooler was against her in Iowa. Pulled to the front of the field but not close enough to draft, she was left exposed at the head of the chase pack. On this bright, sunny day, it seemed that the wind most affected those who said it made no difference, and least tortured those who said it was the largest factor. Men's champion Dathan Ritzenhein, who by definition had the best run for the men, said the wind made the early part of his race most difficult. "I think you get tense in this kind of weather... In this cold weather, your legs get cold, your breathing doesn't feel right." Craig's shoulders hunched a bit as she pushed along, not the relaxed form she had displayed in Sacramento. Behind Craig was turbulence. Mannova, Craig's teammate Sara Bei, Mary Cullen of Providence, and Flanagan's teammate Carol Henry all did a share of the pack work, until late in the race, and all entered the final long straightaway with more energy than Craig. With the finish line in sight and the wind, for once, behind them, Bei and Mannova made strong moves to get their team scores started well. They towed Cullen past Craig, then Bei got the best of Mannova, arriving at the finish third. Bei, a Foot Locker champion herself in 2000, redeemed in that instant a series of poor NCAA finishes. "I'm definitely a different runner this year than I have been in years past. I really believe... [that] each race is a new creation. It wasn't easy and you always have those thoughts haunting you. ... It's the most incredible race I've ever run."
Craig finished sixth, with BYU's Kassi Andersen in 13th. With two runners in, the score was BYU 17, Stanford 9. Then the nail-biting began. Andersen was followed immediately by Laura Turner in 14th; Katy Trotter in 21st for Stanford scored 20. BYU 31, Stanford 30. Arianna Lambie came in 24th (scoring 23), hampered by an injury she sat out the West regional in an attempt to heal. BYU's fourth was Breanne Sandberg in 37th (scoring 31). BYU 62, Stanford 53. Suzanna Larsen was 89th for BYU, scoring 66 and bringing their final total to 128, but just three places back in 92nd, Katy Trotter's sister Amanda scored 68 points for Stanford to close their scoring at 120 and close the door on BYU's title defense. Still, the best one-two finish of the meet belonged to Providence, whose second-fifth Smith-Cullen finish vaulted them to third place with 222 points. Carol Henry's seventh place gave UNC just eight points for their first two, but with usual scorer Jessica Perry trailing in injured, UNC's team finish was not what they might have expected. Other teams with two strong runners up front included Princeton, with Emily Kroshus in eighth, finally running at the level suggested by her dominating high school wins over Bei, and sophomore Cack Ferrell in 22nd despite being involved in a pileup at the start. Northern Arizona University was led by sisters Ida Nilsson (ninth) and Johanna Nilsson (10th) but wound up fifteenth. It is early to make predictions about 2004, but Stanford, who brought no seniors to Iowa, is well situated to defend their title. Bei and Craig are both juniors, and Lambie, Trotter and Trotter were all running their first NCAA championship. BYU's outlook is less clear; despite losing only Mannova to graduation, Cougar athletes often take several seasons off to go on mission for the LDS church. While Laura Turner returned from mission this year, Sandberg leaves on mission this winter.
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