2004 NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Interview with Alicia Craig

by Parker Morse

Alicia Craig runs in the 10,000m final at the 2004 NCAA Track & Field Championships, (Photo: Alison Wade/NYRR)

Still a track sophomore, Stanford's Alicia Craig became the first athlete since Amy Skieresz ('97-'98) to repeat as NCAA 10,000m champion on June 10, 2004 by running 33:58.27. Both wins followed the same pattern; she sat among the top five for 20 or more laps, then blasted away from the pack with a decisive move in the final mile.

The collegiate record holder at 32:19.97 since the Cardinal Invitational at the end of April, Craig will now turn her attention to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials — Track & Field, where she will be seeded at the top 10.

She talked to the media after her NCAA 10,000m win at the University of Texas.

On how the race felt to her:
Pretty good, pretty good. I was trying to stay nice and relaxed, and only get excited for the last mile. I think that one of the girls stuck with me for maybe about 50 meters, I don't know. I didn't want to get overconfident and not expect anyone to come back on me, so I just kept on going.

I'm very thankful. God has been very good to me, he has blessed me with good health and good training. I'm humbled by the fact that when I go out there I'm relying on my body, and sometimes your body doesn't want to keep everything together. And I'll never underestimate the competition. I have to run against some great girls.

On how this race was different from 2003:
Last year, I went in to the race not even knowing that I was going to run the 10K until a couple weeks before NCAAs. I hadn't even run a really competitive 10K, so I was just getting in there and seeing what I could do. This time I'm a little bit more experienced, and I know my limitations. I wanted to go in with the same approach, to get in there, be patient, and have a big kick in the last mile.

[It's] a two-mile run, a two-mile workout, and a two-mile race. But definitely those last five laps were the key.

On deciding when to move:
I could tell the pace was picking up, so I could tell people were feeling OK, or at least tempted to make a move. I just wanted to catch people a little off-guard. I don't know if they expected it or not. I put in a surge that was a little hard to cover.

That was the plan, to conserve as much energy as possible, to let other people do everything, to fall asleep in the pack, then keep running once I got in front.

On her plans after NCAAs:
I think my next race will be the Trials. I want to go in without too many expectations, but wanting to go out there and do my best. My mom and my dad are here tonight. The whole family, cousins, aunts and uncles, will be at the Trials.

On returning to Sacramento, where she won in 2003, for the Trials:
I'm glad to be going back there. I'll be there a long time in advance of my race, so I'm glad I know where to run, I know what it's about, and where the track is. I just have to jump in my car and drive down there. I don't want to miss the other races.

On the training situation between the meets:
I'll stay in Palo Alto. We just got done with school; I took my last final about five hours ago. Last year I had to take a final the morning after. This one was in Human Behavioral Biology. It was probably the toughest of all of my finals. It was three hours. They faxed us two tests; Sara Bei, my roommate, took it as well. Most people on the team ended up taking finals.

Sara and I will be partners in crime, we'll do most of our training together. Lauren Fleshman is back, so we'll catch up with her and run with her as well. That will probably be my main group, but there are others running as well.

On where her main focus was placed in training:
Definitely the Trials. This race [NCAAs] is very important, but it's a stepping stone to the Trials.

On how that changes her mental outlook for NCAAs:
It's nice for me in that I race well when it's just a race, and I know I have another race to run. It's not a bad situation. I don't like to race often, and when I do race, it's something interesting — the Cardinal Invite, or something like that.

On the pressure of defending her title:
I can only run as fast as I can run. If that's not the fastest on a given night, I need to make some changes and go from there. Not that I don't have expectations of myself, but I don't get stressed about it. Life goes on.

(Interview conducted June 10, 2004, posted June 22, 2004)