NAU men’s cross country wrapped up their 2011 season at the NCAA National Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 21. The team finished in 14th place at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.
Although the Lumberjacks were not able to gain another consecutive top-10 finish, this will mark their 18th top-15 since 1984. Wisconsin took home the national championship title, beating out three-time consecutive winner Oklahoma State. NAU led for the majority of the race, but dropped six spots in the team standings during the last two kilometers.
“The Wisconsin Meet and the National Meet were the two meets where [the team] faded over the second half of the race, which we did not do at Big Sky and we did not do at Regionals,” said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Eric Heins. “Unfortunately, there were 13 other teams that were better than us.”
Senior Diego Estrada led the Lumberjacks, finishing the race in seventh place with a time of 29 minutes and 25 seconds. This was an improvement for the All-American, who finished the same 10,000 metre course last year in 16th place with a time of 30:10. Although this was his third time running in Terre Haute, Estrada was slightly disappointed with his overall performance.
“It’s kind of tough being a senior and walking out of [Nationals] in seventh place,” said Estrada. “I think for the first three-fourths of the race I ran well, but then after that my body wasn’t really responding well. The race got away from me.”
Coming in behind Estrada was senior Jordan Chipangama, who finished the course in 48th place with a time of 30:21. Junior Tim Freriks came in at 94th with a time of 30:45, followed by senior Matthew Coloe in 155th and freshman Caleb Hoover in 177th.
A few of the runners suffered setbacks that dropped them back in the pack, with Chipangama’s hamstring tightening up mid-way through and Coloe tripping with about a mile left in the race. Despite not coming home with another top-10 finish, Heins was still very pleased with the team’s overall performance this year.
“It was a successful season,” said Heins. “The guys competed well at every meet.”
Estrada will continue to run on his own time, competing in two 5,000 metre races over the next three weeks, while Heins will be busy recruiting for next year’s team.
“We’re losing five people so we’re going to have to get some young ones in there to go with the returners that we’ve got,” said Heins.
Men’s cross-country closed out the season with five top-three team wins (taking top honors at the Big Sky meet and third at the NCAA regionals), and two more in the top-15 (the Wisconsin invitational and the NCAA championships), helping the team earn a No. 13 rank.
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