Post Meet Quotes

Sept. 29, 2012

Recap

RIM ROCK CLASSIC QUOTES
Sept. 29, 2012
Lawrence, Kan. 

Assistant Coach Michael Whittlesey
On men’s performance:
“It was really great. First I want to thank all the teams that came out. It was a great atmosphere today and a perfect day to run. I am very appreciative of the number of teams that showed up and for the quality of the teams. Indiana is ranked No. 11 and we felt that we had a chance to go get them. We had a very specific race plan of what we were going to do. If the top two Indiana guys were going to go then we needed to let them go and the guys ran a perfect race. They hit the race plan to a ‘T’. We talk all the time about our small pack of five and they were fantastic; absolutely excellent execution. Our sixth and seventh were also right there. They are going to close the gap. Josh Munsch is coming off of injury so he has been working out for two weeks and he’s only about 25 seconds off. So I am very pleased with their execution. They did a fantastic job.”

On seeing Donny Wasinger perform well and back strong from injury:
“He didn’t come into the year in top shape and there were six guys who though they could be the number one guy. But this shows what a competitor he is; he knew what he needed to do training-wise. He’s been real focused, he got excited about what the other six guys have been doing and that helped motivated him to come back. The guy is just tough. He’s a tough competitor and you could see it in the race today, leading the team exactly like we needed him to.”

On women’s performance:
“Kyra did a real nice job. The plan was to get the front-five together and they did a real nice job through the first mile and a half. She had a real nice race. She stayed calm and started to get real aggressive the second half of the race. Hannah (Richardson)’s been under the weather and you can see that it started to hit her around a mile and a half to two miles. We still have some pieces that can get a lot closer. We get Natalie (Becker) back next week and that should help our depth a lot. The effort overall was good but we have more work to do. I thought they were losing it to K-State but they pulled it out. I am excited about the start of the tradition of this meet. A lot of coaches talked about how nice the setting was and what a good course it was.”

Senior Donny Wasinger
On his performance in the race:
“As a team I think we did perfect. We executed exactly the way we wanted to and had a plan going in. We knew what type of shape we were in and I think we even surprised ourselves, me especially. I haven’t been feeling very good this year and to come out and be able to run with my teammates was a big surprise and a good surprise.”

On being KU’s top finisher:
“I feel great. Yesterday, if you would have talked to me I would have said I’m a little bit hesitant to say that I was going to have a good season, but after today I have full confidence that this is going to be the best season that I am going to have at KU not only as an individual but as a cross country team.”

On team and the rest of the season:
“We took down some really good teams who are consistently really strong year-after-year. To be able to do that is a huge confidence boost and hopefully we carry it through to (the next big meet in) Wisconsin and hopefully have a big showing there and surprise people.”

On his confidence level after the day’s race:
“It’s a big build up for sure. Like I said, looking ahead to Wisconsin we are looking to raise some more eyebrows up there.”

Senior Kyra Kilwein
On her execution of the race:
“I think I executed great. My teammates helped me a lot with staying calm, confident, and work together through the first part. Coach Whittlesey also said I did really well, so I’m really happy.”

On her season thus far:
“So far it’s going really well. We are excited to really start our season and be able to compete. I’m feeling confident and excited for the rest of the season.”

One different configuration of the course:
“Well Rim Rock is my course and I know it very well. It was a little bit different, but I thought today’s race was really fun and I’m really happy our team got to race again at our home course.” 

On confidence level
“My confidence level is very high. I still need to keep building every day, make progress, and help-not only me-but my team get better each day.”