Out to Pack the Bus
Women and men out to make national trip together
Mike Brohard
Even now, thinking about the moment can bring on. the sensation.
A tightening of the chest which comes from the angst of what was missed.
It first hit when Lars Mitchel stood outside at Moby Arena last year, watching the Colorado State women’s cross country team get on the bus and head to the airport en route to the NCAA Championships. He was thrilled for the women, who finished 17th in Tallahassee, Fla., to be making a return trip, but for the second consecutive season, only one half of the roster was making the trip.
“We sent the women’s team off, and all the guys stood there as the bus left and it was a hard feeling, to watch them go and not go,” Mitchel said. “At the beginning of the year, it was, remember that feeling of watching the girls leave for nationals last year. You want to be on that bus.
“You feel it in the chest. It’s like the stress you might get thinking about a test or running a race in the future.”
In 2019, neither team qualified, ending a three-year run for the men. Not since 2004 have both squads competed at the meet, but this season both are on the cusp as the postseason begins Friday with the Mountain West Championships in Laramie, Wyo., where the Rams began their season.
The goal is to be competing three more weekends, and both squads are nationally ranked heading to conference. The Mountain West meet is important for conference pride, but the NCAA Regional meet Nov. 12 in Albuquerque, N.M., carries even more significance for both. The Mountain Regional is normally stacked, and while the top two teams will continue on, traditionally, four or five other squads pick up at-large bids.
To be in the hunt for the extra weekend, teams need to start picking off opponents near them to make a statement. While carrying the hope of three more weekends of competing, the dance is an intricate series of steps for both squads to follow.
“You need to get to nationals. Conference is a huge deal, a huge part of what this program does in cross country and the distance side, but overall with track,” first-year coach Andrew Epperson said. “Conference is always in the forefront of the mind. It’s important and something we focus on, but it’s also a stepping stone to the next meet where really that’s the high pressure situation where you have to run well and we have to run our best. There’s no point in tapering and getting ready for nationals if you don’t make nationals.”
Getting both teams to nationals isn’t about ego for the top of the program, but it does present some validation for the work being done by the athletes and the training plan put in place by the coaching staff. It definitely helps when the coaches are out recruiting.
For the athletes, getting both teams to the final meet is strong source of motivation, as the tightness in Mitchel’s chest would suggest. It wasn’t that long ago the women were craving the success the men were having, and to reach that point together would lead to elation.
“I’d cry. Absolutely. We’re all out there putting in the same work,” Sarah Carter said. “I transferred here, and this is the first team I’ve been a part of, where on both the men’s and women’s side the coach’s biggest criticism is for us to calm down and relax a little bit. That’s how bad these teams want it. That’s how bad the people here want to be successful, and that is truly a unique thing to be part of. That’s why it would mean so much. I’ve seen the work the women are putting in, but I’ve also seen the work the men are putting in.
“How could you not want that for them?”
We’ve had workouts this year going really well, and we see the women’s team go by and we cheer them on, and they cheer us on. It’s nice to have both genders in the sport. It’s cool. We get along and motivate each other.Lars Mitchel
It wasn’t too long ago (2009) when the men were coming off back-to-back top-10 finishes at nationals, and what this year’s group came in seeking is some consistency in performance. It’s what Epperson felt they lacked a year ago, but he’s seen develop this season.
Being healthier through the season has helped, and as they look toward the build up which awaits, they can fall back on what they’ve already done. As a group, the received votes in the national polls at the start, then fell out completely. It was an 18th-place showing at the Nuttycombe which had the Rams vault back in at No. 28.
And the Mountain Region will be stacked, with six other ranked teams in front of the Rams, four in the top 10 nationally. They know they need to target No. 24 Utah State not only at conference but also at regionals, where Montana State (No. 21) is added to the list.
But the recent build into the rankings has brought some confidence.
“It was a big boost. I think the recognition is really nice in moving forward,” Mitchel said. “I think we ran well at Griak, but we ran better at Nuttycombe, but there’s still room for improvement. If we would have won at Nuttycombe I’d be stoked, but at the same time, I’ve been really happy there is still room to move because it keeps the team hungry, keeps urgency on the team we need to keep moving, keep improving. If you’re team is already seeded way up there, you can get complacent and think of if not as a get after it mentality but stay where we are. I think the men’s side this year we have a lot better of carrying a let’s-get-after-it mentality.”
The women, who are in a much better position ranked No. 20 nationally, still don’t have a gimme path to nationals. The Rams are ranked sixth in the Mountain Region with the five teams ahead of them all ranked in the top 11. Lurking behind them are No. 24 Utah Valley and four other teams receiving votes.
Carter was injured last year, so she’s thoroughly enjoying her time back with the team and being an impact performer. She said the women have been doing a dance all year, and the upcoming steps are just part of the routine.
“We’ve been doing a little dance all season called Top 10. That’s the over-arching goal, but we also know we’re all going to go out and do our best and that’s going to place us where it places us,” she said. “We’ve been putting together some really intense training blocks. I’m loving what Coach Epperson’s been doing. I think he’s prepared us well for these tough, hilly type courses we’ve been doing, and it shows. I’m proud of the way we’ve all been able to perform these past couple of months. We need one day –preferably that day is nationals – where every person puts it altogether and we’re going to do something special.
“It’s tough, because nobody wants to peak too early, but if you peak too late and you don’t make nationals, then what’s the point, right? It’s difficult because in a sense you have to be performing all season. You spend the regular season trying to get points, build up your reputations, you build up your ranking and those points that are going to qualify you from regionals to nationals. Our region is extremely competitive to the point where it’s pretty normal to take six teams. We’re looking to place as high in the conference as we possibly can, kind of break up that New Mexico pack they’ve got going. It’s hard because the distance between races is also getting shorter. We have this, then two weeks to regionals and then one week to nationals. It gets intense really quickly.”
Which is no surprise. When you set the expectation of reaching the end, it becomes part of the planning. It was last year, when Epperson really felt both teams had the potential to make the trip. After a handful of years where one side or the other was wishing for what the other had, the target this season was for both to encourage each other to the ultimate goal.
Everybody on the same bus.
“Even if we’re doing different workouts, were usually in the same spot, so we see the work they’re doing,” Mitchel said. “I think it has woken the men’s team up, having the women go. I’ve appreciated it. We’ve had workouts this year going really well, and we see the women’s team go by and we cheer them on, and they cheer us on. It’s nice to have both genders in the sport. It’s cool. We get along and motivate each other.”
So, over the summer, the men stayed in town and worked on their mental approach as much as anything. And the women remained tight to the point where if somebody’s class schedule interrupted a team workout, a teammate would join them, so they didn’t have to train alone.
All along, they were all in this together, all carrying the same goals, men and women alike. Because none of them want to be standing on the sidewalk waving goodbye as the bus pulls away.