Cross Country: Championship course a challenge

Friday, October 31 2008 - OVC Championships


Masanet wants team to keep pace with same talent level runners

Brandy Provaznik/Staff Reporter

Senior Jake Larson, junior Nic Atkinson, junior Wes Sheldon and senior Kyle Swynenberg train on the Panther Trail on Oct. 20. Eastern runs in the Ohio Valley Conference Championships on Saturday in Cape Girardeau, Mo. (Amir Prellberg / The Daily Eastern News)
Senior Jake Larson, junior Nic Atkinson, junior Wes Sheldon and senior Kyle Swynenberg train on the Panther Trail on Oct. 20. Eastern runs in the Ohio Valley Conference Championships on Saturday in Cape Girardeau, Mo. (Amir Prellberg / The Daily Eastern News)

Sophomore Derek Ericson is not worried about the hills at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships course at Jaycee Golf Course in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

"My home course in high school had a lot of hills, and they were probably even bigger than the ones on SEMO's course, so I will definitely be ready for them," Ericson said.

Ericson has a specific plan for pushing through and attacking the hills.

"You make sure you pick up your speed a little on the way up the hill," Ericson said. "At the top, you are a little taken for breath but you can still roll with it and you know after that it is either going to be a straightaway or downhill, so it's pretty easy from there."

Junior Erin O'Grady said there were a lot of rolling hills at their last meet in Evansville two weeks ago.

"We all did pretty well at Evansville, and I think it is great that we can take how we did there and just build on it," O'Grady said. "We have done a lot of hill workouts lately, and we will be able to handle it. It is all in our legs. We just have to get out there and get it done."

Eastern head coach Geoff Masanet said making the decision of who was going to compete at the conference meet and who was not was tough. But he said he is happy that it gives him more options of who can run at the NCAA Regionals.

"We had quite a few quality guys capable of being on the conference roster," Masanet said. "I just had to look at how each guy was performing at this point."

Masanet said for the first time he is giving the people not running at the conference meet a chance to still compete in a meet this weekend.

On Sunday, the people who did not run at the OVCs on Saturday will get a chance to race at a meet in Urbana.

"I wanted to give the people that weren't running at conference something to train for and something that will help them continue to train through in case they do run at Regionals," Masanet said.

od for the men to get a chance to run on Sunday especially because they are running a 10-kilometer race.

"Usually you don't get a chance to run a (10-kilometer race) until Regionals and Nationals," Pedersen said. "So the people who are running in Urbana will have a better idea of what it is like running (that type of race) before Regionals, which is a bit of an advantage that even guys running at conference won't get."

Masanet said he expects his teams to go out and run their own, controlled races but also keeping in mind the other teams that he thinks are going to present a lot of competition.

"Our guys need to beat Morehead and SEMO's guys," Masanet said. "Our fifth guy has to be better than their fifth guy if we are going to knock them off and place where we want to place. The gals need to get out in good position and stay there while keeping an eye on SEMO and Tennessee Tech jerseys."

Junior Mario Castrejon said the Panthers are so similar to Morehead and SEMO talent wise that the Panthers need to make sure they hold on and stay in the race with those teams the whole time.

"We need to really watch out for them because one body or two ahead of our second or third runners is going to make the difference between us placing in second or third or fourth," Castrejon said. "We are running our own race, but we really have to keep an eye on the other guys."

Brandy Provaznik can be reached at 581-7944 or at blprovaznik@eiu.edu.