The Chart Online

Lions dash toward national meet
Tracy Hamilton

Staff Writer

The men s cross country team traveled on Nov. 9 to Warrensburg for the South Central Regional Meet and finished second out of 13 teams, advancing to the NCAA Division II National Meet in Ashland, Ohio.

The team raced a 10 kilometer, averaging a time of 33:05. Once again leading the Lions was Brian Lyons with a sixth place time of 32:25. Two other runners named to the All-Region squad were Petri Kykyri, finishing eighth with a time of 32:31, and Magnus Holmstrom finishing 10th with a time of 32:37. Other significant runners include Larry Boswell, 33:39; Craig Rhoads, 34:16; Paul Koehler, 34:35; and Lucas Plocher, 35:53.

The team scored 66 points beating teams such as Truman State and Central Missouri.

Tom Rutledge, head coach, wanted to focus on qualifying for the national meet and allow his runners to run a more relaxed race. He instructed the runners to race the first 5,000 meters hard, and then maintain throughout the remainder of the race.

I told them to relax after 5,000 meters and then make sure no one passed them during the race, Rutledge said.

Racing at CMSU, a conference course, suited the team s style of running. The team s practices have been centered around more difficult conditions, making the transition easier for the team.

The terrain of the course with its rolling hills was a huge advantage because our team is suited for those kind of courses, said Paul Koehler, sophomore history major.

Although the weather was nice, the team battled against the windy conditions. Although it was difficult to run in those conditions, the team overcame and managed to perform well.

I have tried to teach them to accept each situation and adapt to them, Rutledge said.

Rutledge placed a great amount of faith in his team, because he instructed his runners to do more of their running on their own time. The men knew they had to run approximately 70-80 miles per week, but the team workouts were shorter, allowing each runner to choose to train on his own time. The trust test proved to be a success.