Women Successfully Chase Down National Dream

This didn't happen overnight. Lily Tomasula-Martin knows better.

Qualifying for the NCAA National Cross Country Meet has been a long process for a lot of people. That's why when Sunday's news broke the Rams had been selected for the 31-team field with an at-large spot, the junior's phone blew up.

"I was chatting with some old teammates after we found out we were going. I got a lot of messages from old teammates, because it is a process and you're standing on the shoulders of a lot of people who came before you," said Tomasula-Martin, who led the Rams at the Mountain West Championships in Las Vegas with an eighth-place showing. "Especially when you're looking at a program where we haven't gone as a team since 2007, but that doesn't mean it wasn't our goal every single year that I've been here. I think it's amazing to come from a point where we were trying so hard and not able to put everything together, and now being at a point where this has been my goal for four years and now we're really going."

To Stillwater, Okla., where the meet will be contested Monday; the women's race begins at 10:50 a.m. ESPNU will carry the race live, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

The team is blend of veterans such as Tomasula-Martin and Ivy Gonzales, who have been in the program for at least three years. The roster of eight who will travel is bolstered by transfers such as Lauren Offerman (who placed a spot behind Tomasula-Martin at conference), Sarah Carter and Lauren Neugeboren, as well as fresh faces who are now in their second year and helped fuel the charge.

Offerman, a local product of Mountain View High School who came to CSU looking to regain her confidence under coach Art Siemers with a focus on the outdoor track season, quickly bought in to what the cross country team was chasing, and it helped her in her efforts to regain her drive and former form.

"All the girls are so supportive. We have probably 10 girls who could be in the top seven on any given day, and it gives you a lot of confidence training with girls who can all throw down crazy times," Offerman said. "Coach's confidence in us is great. It's an amazing program and an amazing atmosphere. We're very motivated."

And Siemers knows they will be challenged. He considers the course in Stillwater one of the toughest for a championship race. It will be hilly, and with rain in the forecast, probably very muddy.

That may be less than a thrilling outlook for some.

"This is like my ideal. I was talking to coach, and he was like, it's supposed to be muddy and hilly, that's everything that you're good at," said Tomasula-Martin, a product of training days in the mountains around Estes Park. "I'm like, thank God. I'm done with these cross courses that are like running on a track. That was Vegas. This is not cross. This is so fast. What the heck.

"Crappy weather and hills, that's what I'm known for."

The Rams are out to have the country know them for something else, and that's as one of the top programs in the country.

Siemers has seen it building, and with Tomasula-Martin and Offerman out in front, he felt he had the perfect team blend to reach the collegiate pinnacle of their sport this year. Now it's time to see what the Rams can do with the chance.

"My expectations are we haven't been there before. It's a big, intimidating race, and it happens to be on one of the hardest courses they've had for the NCAAs," he said. "At Stillwater, they have a very hilly course and there's a lot of rain projected. It's going to be a slugfest there. The toughest runners are really going to stick out.

"It's hard to say we're going to be happy with this place or that place. I just want our team to go there and run what the expectations are for a good, solid race and come away with the feeling that we gave it all we had on the course and this is what place we are. I really think we can be a top 25 team. I really do."

For Offerman, sleep didn't come easy on Saturday. The selection show was Sunday morning via a livestream, and she said it was good the team went for a long run prior or else they'd all have been overly stressed. Instead, they ended up jubilant, and the challenge in front of them is nothing that compares with the long wait the program has had to regain this status.

The course may be tough, and that could lead to the mental approach being just as important as the physical aspect, but she said the team is built for such a task.

"I think it will be about 50-50. You can't fake the training, and every girl there is going to be in peak condition," she said. "It really comes down to how mentally strong you are. Every girl on this team has that mental strength to get through it."

Naturally. The Rams have been chasing down this particular dream for some time. It didn't just happen due to the work of a three-meet campaign, it was a representation of the miles and miles in pursuit of a dream

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results