2003 NCAA PRE NATIONALS
Post-Race Interviews With Shalane Flanagan, Alicia Craig & Sara Bei, and Patrick Shane

By Chris Fox

Shalane Flanagan dominates her race at the 2003 NCAA Pre Nationals. (Photo: Chris Fox)

Shalane Flanagan
UNC senior Shalane Flanagan won the "Purple" race at the NCAA Pre Nationals October 18. She recorded the fastest time of the day with a 19:29.5, winning her race by 32 seconds.

Fast-Women.com: That was an impressive race. Is this your second race of the year?

Shalane Flanagan: Yes. I did Great American. I pretty much always do a five-meet kind of season.

FW: You said at Pre Nationals last year that when you put on the North Carolina uniform, you like to race "quality."
SF: Yeah, I'm all about quality, not quantity. This is always a great meet to come to because there's always good competition…and just to test yourself and have fun and see the course.

FW: What did you think of the course?
SF: I think it's a great course. I was already raving to some of the reporters, and I was telling the [University of Northern Iowa] coach that I was really happy and pleased with the course. Normally you'll have a cross country race that loops around a million times. You run around the same area. This is great, just having a lot of variety and not having to loop over again.

FW: Is it hilly at all?
SF: I didn't think it was that bad. There are some slight hills that just kind of break people apart a little, but for me, I consider this a pretty flat and fast course. I think you can tell, because the times are pretty fast. I think it's subtle… It can bite you a little bit, but for the most part it's a pretty fast course…not too may hills.

FW: You had Huddle and Mannova in your race, and you just took it out [today]… Did you have a strategy?
SF: I actually was a little nervous, because my teammates — some of the [men] had raced — and they just said to get out a little fast because it cinched pretty bad on that first turn. I took their advice, because my coach isn't here. That was the best form of advice they could give me. So I just made sure I was out fast, so I wasn't getting crowded or tripped up or anything. I was a little nervous… I was looking around… I was expecting the competition to be right with me. They just weren't there today. I didn't know what the plan of attack was for them. I just remained calm and ran my own race and took care of business.

FW: How did your team look?
SF: I am so proud of my team. We really stepped up today and did a great job. Carol (Henry) and Erin (Donohue) — the three of us were in the top ten. We had some freshmen really step it up — they were in the top forty. I am thrilled — especially because our coach isn't here today — his wife is expecting a baby… [We were] feeling a little pressure just to step it up because our coach wasn't here, and [we wanted to] make him proud. Our team is just doing a great job mentally and physically, we're progressing really well.

FW: Were you kind of the leader today, with no coach? You were talking to the team in the pre-race huddle.
SF: We're all trying to assume the role of coach and help each other, but I really felt like I needed to step up as an individual, and as a role model. Usually I just lead by example, but today I tried to inform everyone and give them the best advice I could…and try to imitate coach as best I could.

FW: Your individual goal must be to repeat…
SF: Yeah, that's always fun, but honestly, I am just so excited about our team this year. We have some freshmen that are really excited to be here, and it really gets me excited. Their enthusiasm is just contagious. I really, really want a top-three finish out of our team. Obviously it would be great if I could win again, because that's best for our team, but more than anything, I'm really hoping we get top three at nationals.

FW: Do you wish you had someone with you today?
SF: Yeah, it felt a little long today. All my teammates said it felt short to them, but for me it felt a little long… When I got tired I just tried to think of my teammates. It was kind of tough because I couldn't necessarily hear the announcer and hear how they were doing. When I was starting to get tired or get a little bored out there, I was thinking about my teammates and hoping that they were close behind me.

FW: You did the 5,000m in track at NCAAs, then the 5000m at USA Nationals. Then you shut it down?
SF: Two of my roommates and I went to Europe. Alice Schmidt (the two-time NCAA 800-meter champion) is one of my roommates. The three of us went to Europe, because my other roommate has been studying abroad. We went for two weeks and really kicked it back and had a really good time. The day after we got back from USAs Alice and I flew out.

FW: No running over there?
SF: No running! (laughs)

FW: That must have been fun…
SF: It was a blast…

FW: What is your mileage right now?
SF: I took a day off this week just to freshen up a little. I think it was about 52, 53.

FW: Is that average for you?
SF: No, that's down for me, but everything's going to start moving down. In general, a month out, we always seem to taper. My highest this summer was 75, which was pretty tough for me. That was at the beginning of September. On average, I'm more of a 60-miles-a-week type person.

FW: You decided long ago to redshirt track in 2004 to prepare for Olympic Trials…
SF: I feel to give myself the best chance I have, it would just be to step up my training and race a little less, and enjoy being in school. I really couldn't fathom graduating this year. I think that's one of the main reasons. I just love being at UNC so much. I would have a really terrible time tearing myself away from the team and my coach and everything. So I felt like it was a good excuse (laughs) to relax and have fun, and just train hard and give myself the best shot at making the team. It's too hard to train all year and also compete at a really high level, and then in July all of sudden try to make an Olympic team.

FW: 5k?
SF: Yes. 5k...

FW: Do you prefer track or cross country?
SF: I think my first love has been cross country. That's the first sport that really got me into running. I like each season as it comes around. I'm always ready for the change. I think there's something special [about cross country]. It's just really team-oriented. I think it's a really great sport.

Sara Bei (left) and Alicia Craig (Photo: Chris Fox)

Alicia Craig and Sara Bei
Stanford's Alicia Craig and Sara Bei went 1-2 respectively in the "Gold" race at the NCAA Pre Nationals. They finished just two tenths of a second apart in 19:52.6 and 19:52.8 and led Stanford to an easy win over NC State.

FW: How many races have you run this year?

Alicia Craig: This is my third [race] and Sara's fourth.

Sara Bei: We did a little one before we left for Mammoth Lakes to train over the summer.

FW: Did it go well?

AC: Yeah, it did [go well today]. It was the first time we've really gotten out and kind of tested our fitness and run a little quicker pace, so it went well.

FW: How is the course?

AC: It's fast.

SB: Yeah, it was a fun course. The grass was nice and even. I like the hills, too. We don't see that as much anymore in college courses.

FW: Do you care about the rankings? The BYU coach said you [deserve] to be the number one team [now].

AC: That's what the BYU coach says every year. He tries to play us up. We appreciate that, but they're definitely a good team, and they're always ready to go at nationals, so we just keep that in mind.

SB: Yeah, we're just going to focus on doing the best we can, and have all seven of us have the best race we can. I think if we do that, we're going to be extremely competitive. I think we can't focus on any other team.

FW: What's your strategy? Do you two run together? Can [Arianna Lambie] run with you?

AC: She's in great shape, and certainly in some races, it makes sense for us to have similar race plans. Sometimes it doesn't, because we're all trying to work on different things. It sure is nice when we can run together.

FW: (To Alicia) Did you take a big break after your NCAA 10,000m win in track?

AC: I raced the next weekend at USAs and [then I] took a break and just did summer training…base building, stuff like that.

FW: Is everybody on your team healthy?

SB: Yes… We're missing one girl, Teresa McWalters, [our third or fourth runner]. She stayed home this weekend. Hopefully once we get her in the mix, we'll be even stronger.

FW: You have a "new" head coach, Dena Evans, but she was your coach last year too…

AC: Yes. Dena's amazing. She was very involved with us before, and so it was a very easy transition. We feel very fortunate to have her.

SB: Yeah, we're very blessed. Ever since we've come to Stanford...just working with her so closely. It's great...

AC: She's like our mom-slash-coach-slash-best friend. I think she knows our resting pulse in the morning. I think she probably knows what we've eaten…she just knows us really well, and is able to make wise decisions based on that.

SB: She has always administered the workout stuff. She knows us as runners really well. I feel really confident in her ability to coach us.

FW: Which one [of you won today]?

SB: Alicia won… Place doesn't necessarily matter to Alicia and me. We're just in it to glorify God and, run for an audience of one. Whoever gets it…hopefully God is glorified through either of us winning.

Patrick Shane

On his team's performance:
I loaded Kassi (Andersen) up too much the last two weeks, and didn't unload soon enough. She's really tired, and that's my fault. I don't like to open up too soon with some of them. In her case, it kind of backfired, where we just trained too hard, too long. She's a little tired, but we've got five weeks to get that fixed.

Michaela (Mannova) had a great race, and Laura Heiner Turner — who's come off a Mormon Church mission to Switzerland a couple years ago — redshirted last year…she was very strong. That's her opening race…first race in a long time. She was an All-American her first two years, so I felt good about that.

We had a redshirt freshman, Susanna Larsen, [who] barely broke twelve minutes in the 3,200 in high school... [She] was our third runner. Breanne Sandberg was a little tired today, usually she's ahead of Susanna. She had a good race, but Susanna had a little better race than normal, and Breanne not quite what she's done, but close. Kassi was not in our top five, but that's going to help a lot when she gets up there, and she will. Lisa Antonelli, a good steeplechaser, came up and got fifth for us. We've got some good people; we've just got to keep them on their feet...

On the course:
I love it. I think it's a fair course — kind of a fast start…wide-open…big wide turns, long straightaways. It requires some strength, but at the same time, it runs fast. I feel good about it.

On BYU's number one ranking:
I'm hoping people will wake up and realize that Stanford is much stronger than we are; if you really look at their people and depth…and get them ranked where they belong.

It would have been nice to see Arizona State here, because I think they're very, very good. It's a nice day; almost a little too warm. But we won't complain about that, because next time we're here, it'll be cooler.