Lumberjacks Head to Pre-Nats
10/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 13, 2006
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack cross country team will be in Terre Haute, Ind., this weekend, marking the second time this season the 'Jacks will have made that trip. But this journey could very well lead the program to places it's never been before. The Lumberjacks are set to take on some of the best teams in the country in Saturday's NCAA Pre-Nationals race, where the prize for a strong showing is national respect and, hopefully, an at-large bid to this year's NCAA Championships.
"This is our one big chance to control our destiny, in terms of getting a team into nationals," said Lou Snelling, SFA cross country coach. "We've been moving toward this point for a couple of years now, in terms of planning, training and utilizing our redshirts."
Snelling is in his fourth year at the helm of the SFA cross country program. He has spent an abundance of that time delicately putting the pieces in place for a breakout year by his men's team. The Lumberjacks have already earned acclaim at the conference and regional level. SFA has won five consecutive Southland Conference men's cross country championships, and the Lumberjacks have finished ahead of every team in the South Central Region -- except Arkansas -- at least once in the last three NCAA Regional Championships. This year, with a surplus of veteran experience and a dash of young talent, Snelling hopes to take the program to new heights.
"Our big team goal this weekend is to have a Top 10 performance in our race," the coach said. "If we can do that, we have a solid chance to get some at-large wins."
This year's Pre-Nationals race has attracted 86 teams in the men's collegiate division. Included in that field are 22 of the Top 30 teams in the country. The field will be divided in half, with the luck of the draw determining which race the Lumberjacks will run.
SFA is coming off a big win in its first true race of the season. The Lumberjacks captured the team title at the Auburn Invitational on Sept. 30 with a sparkling performance. SFA put three runners in the Top 10 and saw all five of its scoring runners finish in the Top 16. The Lumberjacks finished with 45 points, 14 ahead of second-place Georgia.
"Our confidence is at a really high level, right now, after winning at Auburn," Snelling said. "It's one thing to talk about competing at a high level and training hard, but it's an entirely different thing to go out and race at that level. That's what we did at Auburn."
Senior Marc Farris led SFA with his fifth-place finish at Auburn. He ran the 8,000-meter course in 23:59.29 and earned Southland Conference Athlete of the Week honors for the second time this season. Senior Chance Edwards and sophomore Keith Mahipala joined Farris in the Top 10. Edwards (24:09.98) finished seventh, and Mahipala (24:18.97) took 10th.
"Marc has the opportunity to go out and really show the nation how fit he is this weekend," Snelling said. "He could beat a lot of talented runners."
The SFA women are also scheduled for a race with some national clout this weekend. The Ladyjacks will compete in the University of Arkansas' Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday.
"The Chile Pepper is typically a fast course with good conditions and a good field," Snelling said. "Several of the top teams in the country will be there, so it will be a good opportunity for us to go out and run really fast against some quality competition."
The Ladyjacks turned in a strong showing at the Auburn Invitational, two weeks ago. Led by a fifth-place individual finish from senior Ashley Monteau, SFA took fourth in the team standings. The Ladyjacks' 133 points were just one point shy of overtaking third-place team Florida State.
"We got a lot of confidence from that Auburn race," Snelling said. "It was really our first race of the season, so for us to run as well as we did was really impressive. We had about a 35-second split between our second and seventh runners, which is just awesome."
Monteau ran the 5,000-meter race in 17:00.07. It was her first race of the season. She was just four seconds behind the third-place finisher and broke up what would have been a perfect one-through-five finish by Iowa.
"For Ashley, this will be her second race of the season," Snelling said. "She's getting very race-sharp at this point. She has the potential to crack the Top 10 at this race, which would be very impressive."
Senior LaKoa McKeever and junior Katrina Nicholas finished 24th and 31st, respectively, in the Auburn race. Both runners placed inside the Top 30 among scoring collegiate athletes. McKeever turned in a time of 17:55.63, and Nicholas finished in 18:04.94.
"LaKoa and Katrina have been very solid two-three runners for us, so far," Snelling said.
This year's Chile Pepper Festival features 85 teams in the college division. Snelling has his women's team aiming for a goal no less lofty than that of the Lumberjacks, considering the quality of the competition.
"Our goal is to try and have as many people as possible break 23 minutes," Snelling said. "If we can do that, we could break into the Top 10, which would be our best all-time finish at that meet. Everybody is really excited going into this weekend."
