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No. 2 Men's XC eyes first-ever national championship
By Jim O'Hara
NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship
Saturday, Nov. 19 • Vancouver, Wash.
ROME – As is the case with any athletic program there have been changes within the Shorter University men's cross country team over the past five years.
Graduation, transfers, injuries – the Hawks have had to adjust to seeing teammates come and go. Yet instead of letting it become a negative, Shorter's harriers have used it as a positive.
Thanks to a firm belief in each other and in the pure team concept, the Hawks return for their fifth straight crack at a national championship when Shorter, ranked No. 2 in the nation, competes in the 56th Annual NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship on Saturday at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash.
"This is the first time we've been healthy as a group all year," Shorter head coach Jay Stephenson said about his team that includes three runners – seniors Eliud Ng'etich, Peter Limo and Nicholas Toscan - who played a role in helping the Hawks finish a program-best 10th place at last year's national meet. "They know the course really well. For us, it will be just running our race and being consistent."
Consistency has been rule of thumb this season for the Hawks, who, based on last season's results, opened the season with a No. 4 ranking.
"I think it was a surprise to some of the kids that we were doing that well," Stephenson said. "We knew we had some talented kids coming in, but it was still a surprise.
"We like that position," the coach added about being rated as the second-best team in the country. "We're in a good spot. There's no pressure on us."
And that, Stephenson said, may bode well for the Hawks, who would love nothing better than to be among the top three teams on the podium at the end of the race.
"We've never been there before," he said. "That would be awesome."
Shorter understands that the path to a potential high finish won't be an easy one.
Hoping to block the Hawks' run are some potent foes, including top-ranked Oklahoma Christian, No. 3 The Master's (Calif.) and No. 4 Southern Oregon, the defending national champion.
The Hawks, however, are well rested and fresh from making a statement at the Southern States Athletic Conference Championship two weeks ago in Clinton, Miss., when they defended their SSAC title with a convincing win.
"They had a tactic to run together for the first three miles," said Stephenson, "and then each of them picked it up after that."
Shorter wound up taking the top four spots, with Ng'etich leading the way as he covered the 8K course in 25:32 to win the individual title. The effort allowed the Kenyan, who placed 36th overall at the 2010 national meet, to earn his second SSAC Runner of the Week honor and emerge as a top national contender.
"Honestly, I think [Eliud] could finish first, second or third [at the national meet]," Stephenson said.
Two newcomers to the team were right behind Ng'etich at the conference finish line. Juniors Daniel Sorenson of Lakewood, Calif., was second (25:35) and Carlos Perez of Barstow, Calif., was third (25:49). Limo, who also is from Kenya, capped the near-sweep finishing in fourth (25:52).
Freshman Evans Tanui of Kenya rounded out the Hawks' top five with a time of 26:53 and all five wound up earning All-SSAC recognition and will spearhead a lineup at this year's national meet that also includes Toscan, the Monaco native who missed the conference meet with an injury, and senior Allen O'Neal of Barnesville.
Freshman Corey Cown of Grayson joins the Shorter contingent as an alternate for the Hawks, while junior Louis Fields of Prattville, Ala., also makes the trip thanks to his teammates who have rallied around him before each race throughout the year.
"They requested that he go," Stephenson explained. "They wanted him to be there to lead the cheer before the meet, which he has done all year. That was exciting for me to hear."
That kind of desire to include a teammate has been something Stephenson has seen all year, one that underlines the team's belief in each other.
"The workouts this year have been a group effort," he said. "They like to run with each other."
