Colorado State University Athletics
Getting to know CSU's Freed, Saunders
10/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 14, 2008
By Josh Kruger
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – With the men’s and women’s cross country teams deep in their preparation for this weekend’s pre-nationals race in Terre Haute, Ind., CSURams.com took the opportunity to sit down with two of the leaders of the teams.
Both Jeremy Freed and Marissa Saunders have seen the highs and the lows of CSU cross country during their time in Fort Collins. Coming off of disappointing results at the last race, the Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore., both see their respective teams using the lessons learned as a positive going forward for the rest of the season.
Jeremy Freed
Freed, 21, is a junior from Evergreen, Colo., who suffered a setback at the start of the season when he suffered an injury to his Achilles’ tendon. Having spent a few weeks rehabbing his ankle, he returned at the Dellinger Invitational to post the fastest time by a Ram, finishing the race in 16th place in a time of 24 minutes, 42.49 seconds, as the men’s team finished in eighth place overall.
On the injury that he suffered
“It’s still an ongoing thing, but I’ve been managing it so it’s been getting better. Basically it’s an inflammation on the Achilles’ tendon. It lasted for about three weeks. I was there for Wyoming, but I had to skip the home meet, the CSU Classic. It was a little bit of a pain and I’ve had it before during track but it got better and it’s at least manageable right now.”
On what he has done to get back into shape
“I’ve been going in and doing a lot of different rehab exercises. Anything from calf lifts to any kind of different heel walks and toe walks. I got all kinds of different things - heat, of course, ultrasounds, icing – all those kinds of preventative things. It’s definitely on the mend. I try to feel like it’s somewhere around 90 percent right now.”
On what the team took from its performance at the Dellinger Invitational
“There was quite a few guys that felt like they were new to the whole experience, which is true. We have guys that transferred in from D-II. Daniel Wallis, Andrew Mauk and Ryan Friese were all new at it. It’s always a different experience to get into a big race with a lot of really competitive guys and a bunch of top-ranked teams in the country. I think we figured out that we need to stay together as a team and each person needs to follow in the group they were assigned to, basically. We need to quantify the race a little more so that everybody knows where the miles and the kilometers are so they know where they are in the race and how it’s going.”
On what he took individually from the Dellinger Invitational
“I felt like it was a good race given the circumstances. Last year I raced about the same way at Dellinger. I really need to go from the second group while I’m racing up to the front group that is leading the race. At pre-nationals, I’m going to try to move forward a little bit more and hopefully when I get through to regionals and conference and nationals, I can get up in that top group that’s leading.”
On what the team is doing to prepare for the pre-nationals this weekend
“We got a great workout today. Hopefully it will go well for us. We got some speed, some 800s to do, so it’ll be a little bit more speed stuff. For us, we’re cutting our workouts a little but less now because it’s getting later and later in the season.”
On how he sees the team’s performance through the first three races of the season
“I think we’re vastly improved from last year. Our performances were not awful last year up to this point, but we’re certainly looking forward as a better team. This team I think projects forward a lot better. We have the type of guys who are working out well, consistently around practice, consistently doing the things you want to see. Race-wise, the eighth place was not totally unexpected, but we certainly wanted to do better than that at Dellinger. But I think we started out well with the two first-place finishes at Wyoming and the CSU Classic. I think we can hopefully be in the top 10 or so at pre-nationals and that will give us some points.”
On some of his personal goals for the rest of the year
“I certainly want to come out of the season as an All-American. I think I‘m ready for that. I was pretty close last year the way I was racing, but I got mono at the end of the year which pretty much derailed that a little bit. This year, as long as I can keep my body healthy and keep myself going along, I think I’ve got a lot to build on from Dellinger. I can pretty much say that my main goal is to be an All-American this season.”
On a quirky fact that people might not know about him
“I did the snowshoe state championships in high school. That was a fun thing. We won the relay back then. I did Tae Kwon Do when I was a little kid. I’ve travelled to a bunch of different places like Peru, Hawaii and Africa. So I got a few things, I guess.”
Marissa Saunders
Saunders, 21, is a senior from Douglas, Wyo., who is in her second season as a Ram after transferring from the University of Tulsa. She has been described by several of her teammates as the vocal leader of the team and a great influence on the younger runners. After solid performances in the first two races of the year, she was the second-fastest Ram in Oregon, finishing in 24th place with a time of 21:36.40, as the team finished eighth overall.
On what she thinks went wrong for the team at the Dellinger Invitational
“I just think we’re a young team. Going to bigger meets, obviously the competition will be going a lot faster and those girls aren’t going to come back as easily. We need to go out harder and I don’t know if the girls didn’t quite have that figured out yet. I think after the race they’ve definitely learned, however.”
On what the team has been doing in practice to prepare for the pre-nationals this weekend
“We just try to work on sticking together and working together. Carrying that over to the races will be very beneficial to us.”
On what they are looking to accomplish this weekend
“BYU will be there and Wyoming will be there. Obviously it will be awesome to beat those teams. We know we can beat them. If we can just improve on our performance in Oregon and do the best that we can do, we will be very happy.”
On her role as a leader of a very young team
“I guess I haven’t really ever thought of it like that. I think we’re all different and we all motivate each other and do things in different ways to help each other out.”
On how she sees the team’s performance through the first three races of the season
“I think we’ve done well so far. We’re definitely taking steps in the right direction. We’re learning, which is good. I think we’re on the right track so I think good things will come soon enough.”
On some things the team can work on
“Working together and helping each other get through the races when it gets tough, which we’ll do. We have a great team, so I’m very confident.”
On some personal goals for the rest of the season
“I don’t know if I have any personal goals. As far as team goals, however, I definitely want us to succeed. I want us to win conference and regionals and do well at nationals.”
On a quirky fact that people might not know about her
“I don’t know. Everyone knows everything about me; I’m so vocal (laughing). I guess I can say that I was voted class clown in high school. I don’t know where the name came from, but it was there. Everyone already knows everything about me (laughing).” CSURams.com would like to thank both Freed and Saunders for their time. Check back next time when we will speak with two more Rams.