Fall break begins this afternoon for Creighton students. Before the cross country teams get the week off from academics, they first must travel to Bradley to take part in today’s Bradley Classic. Coach Chas Davis looks forward to some much needed rest for his squad from the grind of being a student-athlete; he sees next week as chance for his teams to catch up on rest and sanity. Let’s see what else Davis had to say about the past weekend and the upcoming meet in Peoria.
WBR: A short roster ran last weekend at the Tim Young Open. Any particular reason behind that?
Davis: We ran our top squad at Notre Dame the week before, so just like at Doane College, we wanted to give our second squad an opportunity to continue to develop on a stage without a ton of pressure. It gave our top squad the chance to really hammer out a good week of training without having to plan around or rest up for a race.
WBR: With the abrupt change in weather, does that change anything for the runners, such as preparation, practice, the importance of stretching, or nothing too significant?
Davis: Nothing but good news when the weather changed. Sure it felt cold to everyone at first and we had to alter a workout last Saturday when we awoke to snow. But it’s perfect distance running weather. I make sure to remind them to continue to stay hydrated … cooler weather can trick them into thinking it’s not as important as it was when it was hotter out.
WBR: This is your third Friday afternoon meet in a row. What are the advantages or disadvantages to running on a Friday afternoon compared to a Saturday morning? Is it done because of the weather or is it just a matter of when the host school has room in their schedule?
Davis: Really, as much as we’ve practiced early in the morning this season, we aren’t doing ourselves any favors…the schedule was largely chosen depending on the level and kind of competition we were looking for at that particular time, and it just so happened that three in a row that worked well for us happened to fall on Friday afternoons. It’s good for us to get used to it though so we know how to prepare for future races in the afternoon/evening. A lot of successful racing comes down to finding a comfortable routine of what works and what doesn’t for every situation and learning how to adapt. As this team evolves and matures in coming years, we need to know how to prepare for any scenario and be confident stepping to the line no matter the circumstances. As far as meet scheduling, it’s largely a matter of what the host school has room for in their schedule.
WBR: The Bradley Classic takes place on the same course as the conference meet in a few weeks. What other MVC teams will you compete against?
Davis: Indiana State and Southern Illinois’ women will be there. Bradley, Northern Iowa, Drake and Illinois State (their respective B squads) are sending both men and women.
WBR: The team will be taking the same trip to Peoria in two weeks. What do you hope to take away from this meet to help you prepare for the conference meet October 31?
Davis: We need to know where we stand and where we need to go. This is an ideal setting to be able to get the reality check we are looking for. We have raced these kids far less than they’ve been used to in the past and stayed conservative with our training through September with the plan of starting to get faster right about now. We’ll be able to see how well that’s working with stark clarity.
News & notes: Chris Culhane, CU’s top runner from a season ago as a freshman, will be redshirting this season.
