Conover optimistic

This year Cal Poly’s cross country team plans on running its way to victory by taking last year’s efforts and kicking it up a notch.

Coach Mark Conover said the biggest challenge will be making sure they keep a business-like approach during the season.

“That means doing things right, including managing classwork, sleep, nutrition all in a way that will allow the team to function optimally and train to race well,” Conover said.

It may sound like a challenging task, but all this team has to do is maintain for another year the consistency that they upheld last season as one of the top programs in the country.

Last season, the team qualified for the NCAA, finished 9th in the regional meet, and completed the season in 13th at the national meet.

Now the question is: Will the team be able to improve from 13th place?

Conover believes his expectations for this year’s season are completely obtainable. “With the group I have running for me, that is a realistic hope and expectation,” he said.

The theme for the cross country team this year is “anything is possible.”

During last year’s conference play the Mustangs went against a strong squad from UCSB that was favored to beat Cal Poly at the Big West conference meet.

The Mustangs didn’t give up that easily.

“Our team wouldn’t let that happen and as a result we won our fourth straight and seventh title in the past nine years,” Conover said.

Last season gave Cal Poly many chances to show just how strong of a team they truly can be, for they accomplished all their goals even after they had lost a key member to a bike accident early in the season.

“What that did was allow the team to step up in his absence and still achieve their team goals,” Conover said.

Matt Johnsrud may have been the victim of last year’s bike accident but luckily this year he was granted another year of eligibility to pick up where he left off last season.

Conover says the team has learned not to take anything for granted and are prepared for any possible results.

“That shows how strong the west region is, so we will have to be on our toes all season long,” he said.

The women’s team should be well-prepared, as Kimberly Donatellie, last year’s Big West Freshman of the Year, will lead the young group of returnees. Conover said Donatellie will be joined by a solid group of incoming freshmen.

When it comes to the men’s team, Phillip Reid has established himself as one of the team’s top performers. Finishing 21st at the NCAA Championships, he is expected to outperform many this season.

“That is what we would call ‘the real deal’ type of performance, where Phillip established himself as one of the nation’s best,” Conover said. “It’s a tribute to years of perseverance and dealing with the ups and downs that the sport teaches.”

Conover says Reid’s ability to be a team leader and the way he has been able to establish himself as a main force is through his self-belief and dedication.

Some more notable names to keep track of are Troy Swier, who won the 10,000-meter title at the Big West Track Championship in the spring and Joe Gatel, Evan Anderson and Jeff Lease, who all were track regional qualifiers.

While they prepare for the 2007 season’s opening day on Sept. 1 at UCSB, the Mustangs have been taught to remain focused on the goal.

“Hopefully a summer spent thinking about what lies ahead along with some nice therapeutic running on a daily basis. Basically re-charging and enjoying the downtime that summer brings along with building up training volume,” Conover said.

“The entire West region is very strong and Cal Poly will be hunted out in the Big West, and the other conference schools will be coming at us hard to knock us off,” Conover said.