Jayhawks Looking To Soar At Big 12 Championships
Oct. 23, 2007
Big 12 Notes
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LAWRENCE, Kan. –
With four meets behind them, the University of Kansas Cross Country teams enter the championship mode of their season starting at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock, Texas on Oct. 26. The men will start at 10 a.m. followed by the women at 11 a.m.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Senior Colby Wissel will attempt to become the ninth Kansas runner to win the Big 12 title in back-to-back years. KU currently has a string of three straight individual Big 12 titles. Benson Chesang won it in 2004 and 2005 while Wissel took the crown last year at Rim Rock Farm.
“It’s only natural that people tend to focus on the defending champion,” Assistant Coach Doug Clark said, “but from our standpoint, we are way, way more concerned on how the team does as a whole than on how Colby does specifically.”
Wissel will be going up against the best in the conference and one of the best teams in the nation, Colorado. Seniors Bret Vaughn and Stephen Pifer have been a constant force for the fifth ranked Buffalos and will put a strong effort into stopping Wissel from becoming the fourth runner to win back-to-back Big 12 titles.
The conference is loaded with talent and high rankings with Texas (14), Oklahoma State (18) and Iowa State (24) joining Colorado in the polls. Senior Paul Hefferon realizes the depth of the league and wants his team to step it up this weekend.
“We need everyone to be on, on the same day and we can finish in the top three, four or five in the conference,” Hefferon said. “The team that’s been working out during the week hasn’t shown up on the course yet. I know we’ve been underachieving and people notice that.”
Last year the men placed third behind Colorado and Texas. Four runners (Wissel, Hefferon, Bret Imgrund and Patrick McGowan) from that team will contribute on Saturday.
The Kansas women will have six runners competing that ran at last year’s meet. This experience should be beneficial to the Jayhawks, who will be competing on a course no one has run.
“None of us have ever seen the course,” senior Hayley Harbert said. “It will definitely be a challenge, but I think we will do well. We just have to go into it open-minded and we are prepared, so we should be fine.”
Last season, KU finished 11th with Lisa Morrisey leading the way in 45th place. This season the team is setting a goal for a big improvement.
“I want to go in the top 40,” said Harbert. “If our top five runners can get into the top 40 then we should get sixth place and I think that’s a big goal for our team.”
Coach Clark thinks the altitude will play more of a factor than the unfamiliarity of the course held at Rawls Golf Course.
“Well, we get a chance to go run the whole course the day before so I think we can get pretty familiar with it. The big issue at this meet is the altitude. It’s not high altitude, but if you run at 3,300 feet in the 10K you have to handicap about 25 seconds (to your time), so that’s an issue. I think we have to be careful at the start that we don’t go out too hard and use up too much oxygen at the very beginning.”
Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego returns as the women’s champion from last year. No. 14 Texas Tech and No. 15 Colorado are the only ranked women’s teams. Colorado is aiming for their ninth straight conference title.
Texas Tech will host the meet, the 12th different school to host the Big 12 Championships. With the conference in it’s 12th year, every school will have hosted the meet one time after Saturday.
The top men and women’s teams are crowned league champion and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. The top 15 individuals in each race are named all-conference.
Results from the Big 12 Championships can be found at www.kuathletics.com.
Quotes from the press conference held on Tuesday Oct. 23.
Assistant Coach Doug Clark:
On women’s team goals for the conference championships:
“Every year our goal is to place as high as we possibly can. I think our women’s team has been running very well. They are still pretty young, but I think can run very well. It’s really hard to predict what’s going to happen, but I think our women can place anywhere between 25th and 40th place as individuals and if we can do that, I think we can finish anywhere in the top six in the conference as a team.”
On team goals for the men at the conference championships:
“The men’s team has been practicing a lot better than we’ve been racing. I think if we step up and do a good job this week, we can be back up in the top three again.”
On the unfamiliarity with the course:
“Well, we get a chance to go run the whole course the day before so I think we can get pretty familiar with it. The big issue at this meet is the altitude. It’s not high altitude, but if you run at 3,300 feet in the 10K you have to handicap about 25 seconds (to your time), so that’s an issue. I think we have to be careful at the start that we don’t go out too hard and use up too much oxygen at the very beginning.”
On trying to knock off 11-time defending champion Colorado:
“We only have two altitude schools in the conference and one of them is Colorado. They are going to be training at 6,000 feet and racing at 3,300 feet while all the other schools in the conference are sea level schools. On top of the fact that they are very, very good historically, they can use that as an advantage. I think they’re going to start it out really hard and try to run everybody else into the ground and if I was them, I’d do the same thing. It’s a big advantage for them, but we just basically have to go out there and run our race and not let that affect our psyche too much. We just have to make sure we run a little conservatively at the start and make sure we don’t get too much oxygen right at the beginning.”
On the pressure on Colby Wissel to defend his Big 12 title:
“It’s only natural that people tend to focus on the defending champion, but from our standpoint, we are way, way more concerned on how the team does as a whole than on how Colby does specifically. Going into the meet last year, I felt that Paul (Hefferon) and Colby both had a chance to win.”
On his advice to 2006 All-Americans Colby Wissel and Paul Hefferon:
“I told them last year and I’m going to tell them again this year to run cautious, conservative, don’t take any big risks, stay up in the mix and try to score as low as you can. That’s their primary responsibility, to score low for the team. Well, obviously, one (first place) is a low score so if you’re in the mix and you have the chance to win, by all means, go for it, but their job is to try to score low for the team. They can go for first at the end, but that’s secondary to what the team is trying to do.”
Hayley Harbert:
On the anticipation of the upcoming Big 12 Championships:
“The Big 12’s (Championships) are definitely one of our most important meets. It’s really competitive, we’re really excited and we feel we are really prepared for it.”
On their toughest competition at the conference championships:
“Colorado has been really strong for as long as the Big 12 has been a conference. So, definitely Colorado and some of the Texas schools are really good too.”
On host Texas Tech’s home course in Lubbock, Texas:
“No, none of us have ever seen the course. It will definitely be a challenge, but I think we will do well. We just have to go into it open-minded and we are prepared, so we should be fine.”
On team and personal goals for the meet:
“I want to go in the top 40. If our top five runners can get into the top 40 then we should get sixth place and I think that’s a big goal for our team.”
Paul Hefferon:
“We need everyone to be on, on the same day, and we can finish in the top three, four or five in the conference. The team that’s been working out during the week hasn’t shown up on the course yet. I know we’ve been underachieving and people notice that. It might play to our advantage because we’ve garnered some attention over the last couple of years that we’ve lost this year so people might not be expecting us to do as well as I think we can and will.”
