Runners finish 2nd at southeast regional race
By James Schafer
Flat Hat Senior Staff Writer
The men's cross country team earned an automatic berth to the NCAA National Championship race by finishing second at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships, held at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., last weekend.
Leading the way for the Tribe and winning the 10,000-meter race was senior Sean Graham, who took first place with a time of 30 minutes, 15 seconds.
"I was hoping I had a chance to win," Graham said. "[Senior] Ben Jenkins and I were leading for the first three miles. It turned out that I just stayed up there with the pack."
Graham finished six seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, and was named Regional Athlete of the Year for his performances this season.
"I think he [Graham] performed very well, very controlled," Head Coach Andrew Gerard said. "I think he has a lot more left in his tank. ... He has always had a tremendous amount of athletic talent, now his patience and confidence are catching up with where he can be running."
North Carolina State University won the meet, packing four of its runners in the top 10 and scoring just 30 points.
The Tribe took second with 72 points, ahead of Wake Forest University (82) and Duke University (86). While Gerard said that NC State was probably unstoppable, he felt that the Tribe could have had a better performance.
"I am certain that there is a lot more gas in the tank for next weekend," Gerard said. "I think we can improve upon where we are."
Behind Graham for the Tribe were seniors Ben Jenkins (30:51), Craig Carrey (30:57) and John O'Conner (30:58). The runners finished 12th, 16th and 17th, respectively. With their finishes in the top 25, the three seniors earned all-region honors.
Rounding out the scorers for the Tribe was junior Jacob Frey, who finished in 31:28 for 28th place.
"The guys came together really well," Graham said. "As a team we all knew we could do it, but a lot of other people didn't think so. [The team just] put together the race we needed to do great."
This weekend the Tribe will compete in two championship races.
In addition to the NCAA Championships, which will be run Monday at Furman, the IC4A Championship races will be held Saturday at Van Cortland Park, N.Y.
Gerard said the he will send essentially the same squad to the NCAA Championships that ran last weekend.
Meanwhile, some of the Tribe's other runners will head for the IC4As, where they will have a chance to compete in a championship race.
Looking towards the NCAA Championships, Gerard was unable to speculate where the Tribe might finish, but was confident that a strong performance from the runners would put W&M in among the nation's top squads.
According to Gerard, the magnitude of the Championship puts a new twist on racing strategy for the runners. With the sheer number of men entered in the event, there were literally dozens of runners at any one spot in time. That type of massive information overload may make it tough for runners to gauge how they are doing.
"There is a lot of nonsense information that comes in at the NCAA, it is very much more an intense race," Gerard said. "It is very different from your typical 'mano y mano' race. You have very little information that comes in that gives you any concrete ability to judge how you are doing."
Gerard suspects that Graham will place in the top 30 at the championship, which would be an All-American performance.
This will be the fifth consecutive team Gerard takes to the NCAA Championships; he has gone to the championship race every year that he has coached the Tribe.
"In most places [such a record] would be rare, but Gerard's a great coach," Graham said. "He had everything figured out [and] knows exactly what to do with every runner. I don't think a lot of people are surprised."
Meghan Williams also contributed to this article.
