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(02/02/11 3:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The anticipation for this year’s Little 500 has never been higher for the up-and-coming Alpha Xi Delta team. All four riders who earned the team’s highest finish in more than a decade — they placed 15th last year — will return this year.Kelsey Wright, Stephanie Maggio, Charlotte Jay and Tashi Damjanovich are the team’s veterans, while rookies Kelsie Landers, Stacy Robertson and Alli Benshoof will look to provide a competitive edge that the team has been lacking in previous years.“During my two years of competing, we have only had four riders, but this year we have added more girls, which is making us push each other even harder,” Maggio said. “As our house sees our higher goals and that we have more girls involved in it, I think that everyone is giving us more support than ever before.”With the level of support rising within the house, Alpha Xi Delta hopes to earn a top-12 qualifying spot and will look to break the house’s best finish of eighth in 1989. Team captain Kelsey Wright said the key to the team’s success in this year’s race and down the road will be if they can continue to build upon the foundation the veterans have laid.“I feel that if the girls that will follow us can put the same amount of heart and dedication that we have put into Little Five, our team will be competing for years to come,” Wright said.Landers, a sophomore, said her first year of training for Little 500 is a new experience.“It is bigger than anything that I have ever done,” Landers said. “Being a part of the team makes you think of your house so differently because you’re representing your house and doing something that is bigger than yourself. It’s a huge tradition and it means a lot to a lot of people, so I’ve loved being a rookie.”
(11/22/10 5:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>During Monday’s NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, the No. 13 IU men’s cross country team’s race plan will not change, but as November comes to an end, the team has added one element.“No-shave November,” junior Andrew Poore said. “As a team, we all decided to do it. Only one guy on the team didn’t like the idea at first, but after we hassled a little, he came around.”While the beards may only keep them warm, this year will be the first time the Hoosiers have advanced to the ultimate round as a team since 2007. Last year, Poore competed individually in the event, but IU coach Ron Helmer said running alone in cross country can be no fun.“I think for people that care about their team, they wish everyone was there, but you make it the best you can,” Helmer said. “I think it plays with your head a little bit when you are out on the course and you see other teams warming up and you’re warming up by yourself.” Entering nationals, five Hoosiers finished in the top 25 and earned All-Region honors the last time out at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. Poore, sophomore Andy Bayer and junior Ben Hubers took 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively.Poore said the strategy the team used at regionals will be very similar to how it wants to work together Monday.“We got in a group and sat farther back by racing conservatively, but it ended up working out in our favor,” Poore said. “We’ve been together long enough that we are able to trust that the guy next to us is doing their job. Having that team environment going into the national meet is going to be a lot different knowing that we don’t have to have a perfect race.”As Helmer has echoed all season, the team’s level of comfort may be the biggest factor to the team’s success, as the team has only placed behind two teams at the events it has competed in — No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Wisconsin. “They understand that keeping it the same and not getting caught up in the national championship hype is going to be one of the big advantages they have over teams that don’t,” Helmer said. “You have to understand the simplicity of it and how easy it can be once you have put the work in and have a talented group of kids like we have here.”The team will keep the same travel schedule as it will stay overnight in Terre Haute, but Poore said the track there has already become a “home away from home” for many of the IU runners. “Myself and a lot of the guys on the team have had a lot of success in Terre Haute because the high school state meets were held there,” Poore said. “Zach Mayhew is from there and Desean’s (Turner) former coach is the commentator, too, so there’s a lot of familiarity.”The familiarity of the course may give the runners a slight advantage, but Poore said one of the biggest motivations will be representing the state of Indiana on its own soil. “IU wants to be the University in Indiana that all the high school kids want to come to and run, which we have been trying to build,” Poore said. “To be able to now go out and perform, hopefully people in the state will take pride from that.“At this point, there are only things to gain at nationals.”
(11/15/10 5:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s cross country team earned a second-place finish on Saturday at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, automatically advancing to the NCAA Championships.The Hoosier men will advance to the championships for the first time since 2007, while placing in the top two in the regional meet for the first time since 1987. The men’s top five runners all placed in the top 25, including junior Andrew Poore, sophomore Andy Bayer and junior Ben Hubers, finishing 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively.All three Hoosiers finished within 1.21 seconds of fourth place as they raced in the crowded field.Coach Ron Helmer said he was impressed by his team’s success because of the runners’ abilities to stay within themselves to finish behind Wisconsin.“I thought they did a really nice job of doing what they needed to do,” Helmer said. “We knew Wisconsin was very good, and we felt that we could be the second-place team. We went out and got an automatic berth without overextending ourselves.”The women’s cross country team did not enjoy the same results as the men, but were led by senior Sarah Pease to a team finish of fifth place with a score of 167.Pease paced the women as she finished 16th overall with a time of 21:08.93. Pease was followed by sophomore Samantha Ginther, junior Helene DeLone and sophomore Erica Ridderman in 31st, 35th and 37th, respectively.The fifth-place finish by the women did not earn them an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
(11/12/10 5:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Everything to gain and nothing to lose.IU coach Ron Helmer repeated the phrase multiple times as he described his expectations for the IU men’s and women’s cross country teams as they travel to Rochester, Mich. for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Saturday.Helmer said the team’s preparation will help it overcome the obstacles and pressure of a big national meet.“At the end of this long season, every week we should be more ready to go out and produce a good, solid performance because of all of the work we have done over the summer,” Helmer said. “With the pressure of a national meet, you can go out and beat a lot of people that earlier you couldn’t because some of these runners may be running out of gas. Mentally, we are in the right place, which relaxes us, so in the end it will take care of itself.”To advance to the NCAA Championships, the teams must finish in the top two to earn automatic bids. Also, the top three finishers from non-advancing teams will earn a spot in the national meet.The No. 12-ranked men will look to advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2007. Last time out, the team took second place at the Big Ten Championships behind the host and 12-time defending champion Wisconsin Badgers.Sophomore Zach Mayhew said the experience that the team gained last year from a somewhat disappointing finish, advancing only Andrew Poore to nationals, will benefit them this year.“Experience makes a big difference in big races like this one,” Mayhew said. “It helps with the mental aspect of running because it keeps you confident. It’s easier to not panic and stay calm when you’ve been raced in a big race like this before.”The women’s road to nationals may be harder, as Helmer said the team will probably need to beat Michigan or Michigan State to place in the top two to earn the automatic bid, but the coach continued to emphasize that anything could happen this weekend.“We have the ability to run ourselves into the national meet, and we understand that we are capable of doing that,” Helmer said. “When you get to championship time, anything can happen, and we saw that last year as we went in ranked 7th and ended up 4th in the region because other teams began to tail off. We may or may not end up at nationals, but we have everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
(11/01/10 5:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sophomore Andy Bayer and IU men’s cross country proved how much a long summer and fall of training can pay off Sunday with a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships in Madison, Wisc.Bayer led the men with a second-place finish in 23:41.3. With 250 meters to go, Bayer took the lead over Wisconsin’s Landon Peacock as they raced neck-and-neck to the finish line. Peacock outleaned Bayer to win by just a half-second, but the runner-up finish was the highest result in the meet for a Hoosier since 1992.Along with Bayer, sophomore Zack Mayhew received All-Big Ten honors with an 11th-place finish.Juniors Ben Hubers, Andrew Poore and De’Sean Turner rounded out the Hoosiers’ top five, taking 15th, 18th and 29th, respectively.Mayhew said last season’s fourth-place finish at the Big Tens inspired the team to work harder over the summer and fall this season; consequently, the team has been never been so strong.“I don’t think our season could go much better than the way it has,” Mayhew said. “We came into this season knowing what we could do, but with a bitter taste in our mouths with the way last year ended.”The women’s team placed fifth in the Big Ten as senior Sarah Pease led the way with a fifth-place finish. Pease earned a First Team All-Big Ten honor while Chelsea Blanchard finished one spot out of All-Big Ten honors at 15th.
(10/29/10 3:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>All of the excitement built up from a long summer and fall of training will be released this weekend in Madison, Wis. as the IU men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete in the Big Ten Championships.The No. 7-ranked IU men will have to upset No. 6 Wisconsin if they wish to win their first Big Ten title since 1980. The Badgers will be looking for their 12th straight Big Ten title.Senior Sarah Pease, fresh off of her first Big Ten Runner of the Week award for cross country, will lead the No. 29 IU women as they compete against four other nationally ranked teams, including No. 16 Michigan State.Pease, the team’s only senior on either team, will look to become only the second IU woman to win the Big Ten individual title, joining Michelle Dekkers’ titles in 1988, 1989 and 1990.IU coach Ron Helmer said Pease’s experience will be valuable in helping the relatively inexperienced women’s team handle the pressure of the big stage.“The women are much more immature of a group in terms of their high-level racing experience. Except for Sarah, they haven’t really raced at a high level,” Helmer said. “Sarah sets the tone every day. She is a ruthless competitor and doesn’t make excuses. (The team) has very much latched onto that mind-set in their own racing, and I’ve liked what I’ve been able to see.”Both teams will be racing on the same course that they competed on Oct. 2 at the adidas Invitational, where the men won against an impressive field including the No. 6 men’s Badgers team on its home course.Helmer said the key to this weekend’s success will have to do with his teams’ ability to relax in the moment.“(Success) still requires that we execute the race plan properly and that we carry the proper level of relaxation and composure into the execution of that race plan,” Helmer said. “If we position ourselves well, we will have to reach down when it hurts, and hopefully we can beat as many people as we can.”Sophomore Samantha Ginther said the excitement level has been at an all-time high this week as the nervous energy increases as each day passes.“I feel like we can just tell that everyone is a little jittery because we know that both the guy’s and girl’s teams can possibly be champions this weekend,” Ginther said. “I think we have some good nervous energy going because I think it mostly comes from the confidence in our abilities.”Sophomore Zack Mayhew echoed the feeling of nervous energy circling throughout the team in the form of amped up intensity.“Everyone’s in this focused mind-set, and we’ve become very competitive all week,” Mayhew said. “I can tell that everyone is getting a little antsy to go up to Wisconsin this weekend and get some of that nervous energy out by racing. “Our normal run pace has been a bit more up-tempo, but that is because we have been taking our mileage down to be fresh for this weekend. The idea this week is to do less work, but to do better quality of work,” Mayhew added.Mayhew, who was IU’s top finisher in last year’s Big Ten Championships, said Helmer’s usual advice to stay relaxed during races was the key last year and will be vital for the team this year.“I’m going to carry that experience over to this year and really try to relax and hopefully that will rub off on my teammates,” Mayhew said.So the question is: By the end of this weekend, will the IU cross country team get a trick or a treat coming out of the Big Ten Championships?“Treat, for sure.” Mayhew said. “I think we are just more ready than we have ever been. I think this is our time.”
(10/22/10 4:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Before the cross country season began, the enthusiasm and excitement of the season was based on the potential of both the men’s and women’s teams boasting very deep and talented rosters.On Tuesday, two runners from the IU cross country teams, Ben Hubers and Sarah Pease, were rewarded for their accomplishments from the weekend at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. They were both named Big Ten Runners of the Week.IU coach Ron Helmer said Pease and Hubers both helped their teams achieve second-place finishes by executing their race plans.“Sarah and Ben both ran very well in Arkansas,” Helmer said. “It was great to see our teams run with some of the better teams in the country, and these two led the way.”Hubers earned his first Big Ten Runner of the Week award after leading the No. 7-ranked men’s team to a second-place finish behind defending national champion Oklahoma State. Hubers finished eighth out of 470 runners with a time of 29:39 in the 10-kilometer race.The junior has been the Hoosiers’ top finisher for three out of the four races on the season after winning both the Indiana Open and the Indiana Intercollegiate earlier this season.As for Pease, the only senior of the men’s or women’s team, this Big Ten Runner of the Week award marks her first in cross country, as she was previously honored during the track season.Pease won the 5-kilometer women’s race by more than ten seconds, which marked her second victory of the season, having also won the Indiana Open. Pease said this race’s quick pace was due to the design of the course.“We had to get out pretty hard because there were a lot of girls on the course, which narrowed down really quick, so I had to make sure that I was out in the front to stay in good position,” Pease said. “(The quick start) was a really good thing for me because I usually like to get off the line a little slower, so this was a good practice for me to be able to adjust my racing style to be ready for anything at Big Tens and Nationals.”As the excitement from the beginning of the year has turned into results, Pease said the fact that two Hoosiers were being honored as the Runners of the Week is an indication that the program is heading in the right direction.“I think having someone from both the men’s and women’s team win in the same week shows that we are doing the right thing here and that both teams are legitimate contenders for the Big Ten,” Pease said. “Last week, Andy Bayer won the honor, which shows that we have two solid teams that are capable of doing some pretty big things this year.”
(10/18/10 2:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In yet another big challenge, the IU cross country teams answered the call with a pair of second place finishes at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Ark.Senior Sarah Pease led the IU women as she took the individual title in the women’s race. Pease, who won by 10 seconds, was joined in the top ten by teammates junior Chelsea Blanchard and sophomore Samantha Ginther, who finished eighth and 10th, respectively. The women placed second, only four points behind No. 28 Oklahoma State.The IU men competed against another stacked field, finishing better than host No. 6 Arkansas as they took second behind only defending national champion and No. 2 Oklahoma State. Juniors Ben Hubers and Andrew Poore lead the men with eighth- and ninth-place finishes.In addition to Hubers and Poore, three more runners placed in the top-25 of the 407-participant race. Sophomores Zach Mayhew and Andy Bayer and junior De’Sean Turner took 19th, 20th and 23rd, respectively, to help the Hoosiers beat the Razorbacks by a single point.
(10/15/10 3:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Coming off an impressive showing at the adidas Invitational at Wisconsin on Oct. 2, the IU cross country team is back in action Saturday at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Ark.At the meet, the men will square off against six ranked teams, including defending champion No. 2 Oklahoma State and host No. 6 Arkansas.Last time out at the adidas Invitational, the men’s team made a statement to the rest of the nation, winning the race against eight ranked teams, including host Wisconsin—the 11-time defending Big Ten champions. The victory helped move the men’s team to the No. 7 ranking in the nation—their highest since Nov. 2, 2004.The No. 24 IU women will race against three other ranked teams, including No. 21 Tulsa and No. 25 Arkansas. The Hoosier women are coming off a fifth place finish at Wisconsin in a field that boasted six ranked teams.Head coach Ron Helmer said he has preached to his team that with great results come equally high expectations, but the goal is to keep everything simple. “Someone taught me a while back, one of the things you want to do when you have very high goals is to lower expectation,” Helmer said. “If you’re not careful, you can get so impressed with yourself and so focused on that big prize that you forget to take care of daily business. We know always that the potential for really good things happening is there, but we really need to take care of everyday and every work out.”
(10/15/10 3:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Junior Andrew Poore could not help but put his teammate Zach Mayhew on the spot as the rest of their training partners — De’Sean Turner, Ben Hubers and Andy Bayer — listened.“Mayhew is probably the funniest guy out of our training group,” Poore said. “He comes up with these quick-witted comments. He’s usually pretty quiet, but when he talks, he saves up for a good one.”As the group of four guys circled around Mayhew, the sophomore from Terre Haute was asked to whom he would compare his training group. Mayhew quickly responded, “‘The Avengers,’ and I would be Iron Man.”Whether or not the nickname will stick, the five runners have used their extraordinary talents to propel the Hoosiers to the nation’s elite level.After a statement victory in the adidas Invitational against six ranked teams on Oct. 2, including 11-time defending Big Ten Champion Wisconsin on its home course, the IU men’s cross-country shot up to No. 7 in the national rankings. It was the team’s highest ranking since November 2004. In that race, all five finished in the top 20. Four — Bayer, Poore, Turner and Mayhew — finished in the top 10.It has not been an easy road to national prominence as the team began training together a year and a half ago, but Hubers remembered when he first began to see the progress the team was making.“I began to notice at the beginning of last cross-country season when we came in, and we had worked really hard all summer,” Hubers said. “This season we are looking at all the hard work we did last year and are like, ‘Wow, we are doing so much better this year.’”The team has set its collective sights on winning the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 1980. Bayer said achieving that goal and running to the team’s best ability may lie in the safety of numbers.“I think it really helps running in a group,” Bayer said. “It’s a lot harder to race by yourself in the middle of a hundred people. We talk (to each other) a little bit during the race to tell someone to relax.”Bayer, who was voted Big Ten Runner of the Week after the meet in Wisconsin, admitted to a little bit of a trash talking out on the course.“In our last race, we were all kind of poking fun at the Wisconsin guys while we were by them,” Bayer said with a smile and a laugh. “But I shouldn’t be telling you this.”On the weekends off the course, the guys are like any college entourage. Bonfires and movies are some team bonding events, but Hubers said none are as big as their early November’s “Canadian Thanksgiving.”“We aren’t here during the American Thanksgiving, so we have the ‘Canadian Thanksgiving’ to get together and bring food,” Hubers said. “I’m one of the few Canadians on the team, so it’s a good bonding event.”“I’m cooking the turkey,” Hubers added.When on the course, Poore, who received all-Big Ten honors last season, said the driving force behind this team is the desire to win.“We want to beat people,” Poore said. “That’s it. That’s what inspires us.”If the team loses any bit of that desire, they need to look no further than De’Sean Turner, who Bayer said is by far the inspirational leader. Who would Turner compare his own inspiration style to?“Denzel (Washington) in ‘Remember the Titans,’” Turner said.The junior said although every team is an obstacle, one of the biggest hurdles is the mental struggle of running.“A lot of it is mental. We need to keep our heads in the game while training with each other because we all know we’re around the same capability as far as racing,” Turner said. “I think we are more mentally ready than any of our previous years.”So how will Mayhew remember “The Avengers?”“These guys keep me going every day,” Mayhew said. “What I think helps a lot is everyone is very good. Not one of us is going to have a great day every day. But when someone is having a good day, they pull the rest of us along and keep us going.”
(10/04/10 3:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s and women’s cross country teams took a huge step on a national stage at the adidas Invitational in Madison, Wis., on Saturday. The men ran to an overall team win as sophomore Andy Bayer and junior Andrew Poore finished second and third, respectively.The IU men, who were ranked No. 25 nationally heading into Saturday, beat a field that included 11-time defending Big Ten Champion Wisconsin and five other ranked teams. Along with Bayer and Poore, the Hoosiers placed two others in the top-10. Junior De’Sean Turner took eighth place, and sophomore Zach Mayhew finished 10th.The IU women took fifth place in their meet. Senior Sarah Pease and junior Chelsea Blanchard were the top finishers for the Hoosiers, taking seventh and 13th, respectively.The women finished ahead of No. 7 Florida and No. 26 Wisconsin as sophomores Samantha Ginther, Erica Ridderman, Kelsey Duerksen and Lyndsey Wall all finished in the top-50 for the cream and crimson.Neither team will compete again until Oct. 16 when they return to action at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Ark.
(10/01/10 4:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams will face their first big challenges of the season this weekend as they compete at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational in Madison, Wisc.This meet will be the first of the year that all of the top runners from the IU team will compete, including senior Sarah Pease for the women and junior Andrew Poore for the men. The field will include eight Big Ten teams in the men’s race and six Big Ten teams in the women’s race.IU coach Ron Helmer said the meet will give his team its first chance to flex its muscles and test how it stacks up against some of the nation’s best teams.“It can be a reality check where the reality might be something that we can be excited about or the reality might be that we are not quite as good as we are hoping to be,” Helmer said. “If they run with some relaxation and composure, I think the results will be something exciting enough to keep us motivated — to keep working at the high level that we have been working at.”The adidas Invitational may serve as a preview for the Big Ten Championships since the University of Wisconsin will host the championship meet on the same course Oct. 31.Sophomore Zach Mayhew said being familiar with a course can give a runner a huge advantage, one which will help later in October.“If you already know the course going into it, that’s just one more little thing that you don’t have to worry about, which relaxes you,” Mayhew said. “Knowing all of the little nooks and crannies of the course will help us a lot for Big Ten’s, but this week we are looking to put ourselves out there and to let people know that we are good enough to compete with some of these bigger teams.”
(09/30/10 3:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As a freshman from Peru, Santiago Gruter remembers one of the first differences in culture and climate.“We would go to our morning workouts in mid-September, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this is really cold right now,’” Gruter said. “I was definitely surprised how cold it got by the time we got to February.”Gruter, who is now the only senior on the IU men’s tennis team, said the transition to living in a new country and playing collegiate tennis was tough at first but has given him a good perspective to help his younger teammates.“My first semester I really had no idea what to expect. It went by so quickly, and you only have so much time to soak everything in,” Gruter said. “I understand what some of our freshman are going through now, especially Dimitrije (Tasic), who came from Serbia to play tennis. I have been in his shoes.”Gruter said when he was a freshman he was lucky to have three seniors on the team to take him under their wings, which he is now trying to duplicate this year.“The first week Dimitrije was here, he was staying at our apartment,” Gruter said. “It was kind of funny because you see the cultural differences and try to help him out by saying ‘you shouldn’t do that here, or this is how it is in our culture,’ but those are just little adjustments that could really mean a lot to him.”Head coach Randy Blomendaal said Santi, as his teammates and coaches call him, will be one of the leaders of the tennis team this year.“Any time you’re the only senior on a team, you are going to be a leader, so I think he will naturally take on some leadership roles this year,” Bloemendaal said. “Leading by example is huge. The young guys look at you, and every little thing you do — from how you study to when you go to bed at night — so they can learn for themselves.”One quality of Gruter that younger players might wish to emulate is his internal drive. Throughout all of the battles on and off the court, Bloemendaal said Gruter’s determination has kept him going.“I think Santi has been resilient over his last three years,” Bloemendaal said. “He has always battled to try and find out where excellence is at and he hasn’t given up in the process. He has gone through some frustrating times, but he still keeps getting up every day to try and figure it out.”In his final season, Gruter has set his sights on pushing himself each day to set the standard for the rest of the guys, a daily goal that Bloemendaal said he believes will lead to success.“Santi is capable of accomplishing anything that he sets his mind to, but it’s just that process of really knocking out those details day in and day out,” Bloemendaal said. “I feel like Santi has consistently been about 80 percent of what he can accomplish, so to get him up to that 90th or 100th percentile, I think we will be able to redefine his goals every week.”
(09/21/10 7:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Excitement.It could be seen in the runners’ faces as they crossed the finish line of the Indiana Open Sept. 11. It can be seen in practice as the runners cheer each other on, and it can be seen in the eyes of coach Ron Helmer.“I’ve done this for 41 years, and I’m just as excited now about what the future holds as I have been at any time in my career because I know that anything we do is real,” Helmer said. “The work is in place, and in most cases their heads are in the right places and the commitment is genuine.”Excitement is the word used by many coaches and athletes to define what makes this year’s men’s and women’s cross country teams special. Helmer said the excitement level is very high because of the dedication his team is putting in.“It sounds cliche, but there’s a whole bunch of kids here training at an extremely high level, committing to the lifestyle of a high-level athlete, and as a group they are supporting one another,” Helmer said. “They are having a great time doing what they are doing, which you would think would be the way it is every place, but it’s not like that every place.”One reason for the excitement around the IU course is the return of several key leaders.Among those leaders is sophomore Andrew Poore. Last year, Poore qualified for the NCAA Championships with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA East Regional. Poore said what makes this young, diverse team different is the team’s humility.“I think we are a pretty humble group of guys,” Poore said. “We like competing for the right reasons, to be successful. This year, we have pretty high goals, but I think we can do a little bit of the unexpected for what we are shooting for on the national level.”Leading the women’s team this year is Sarah Pease, the only senior on either squad.In June, Pease placed fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, a similar event to those of cross country, and fourth in the same event at the USA Senior Championships.For Pease, a lot has changed in the five years she has been here, but the team has always been a constant.“We are a group of highly motivated, hardworking individuals that come together as a team and want to be good to perform on a high level,” Pease said. “This year we have high goals and come with a positive attitude every day, so everyone is excited.”Helmer said he believes this season will be the year IU cross country surprises people.“In year four, this is supposed to be the payoff year,” Helmer said.
(09/21/10 6:46pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sarah Pease could not tell you what goes on in her mind during a race.Sure, the senior runner thinks about her race plan that she sets with coach Ron Helmer, but what goes on during one of Pease’s races takes more than just a plan. It takes heart and a refusal to lose, two qualities that Helmer said he has never seen so much of in one athlete.“Sarah is probably the toughest kid that I have ever coached, as in physical, mental and emotional toughness,” Helmer said. “As a sophomore, I didn’t know that she was going to become half the runner she is now, but what I at least knew was she was going to get the most out of herself for us.”Why didn’t Helmer know that Pease, who placed fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and at the USA Senior Championships in the steeplechase — and earned All-America honors as a junior — was going to be an IU star?Pease never gave much indication in high school of the great runner she would become, having never placed higher than 80th at a high school state event, having never scored in a state event and having walked onto the IU women’s cross country team."Someone like Sarah that never scored or came close to scoring in high school, to become an All-American and to become a national meet scorer — it happens and I’ve had it happen before, but it’s a once-every-20-years type of thing,” Helmer said.Before Helmer became coach, Pease had yet to deliver big results, but her positive attitude stuck out to assistant track coach Jake Wiseman.“When I took the job here, I sat down with Wiseman and tried to go through the roster to get his take on the players,” Helmer said. “All he told me was, ‘She’s not very good, but I really like that girl because she’s really tough, and I think there might be something there.’”Pease, whose graduating class at South Central High School in Elizabeth, Ind., was less than 60 students, said she had always dreamt of attending and running for IU. Although the senior admits she didn’t know where she was going to be by the end of her collegiate career, she continued to put 100 percent effort into the team as Helmer entered the program.“As the years went on and coach Helmer came here, I kept getting better because I followed everything he said, and I had good teammates to push me, so it just kept getting better,” Pease said. “I just kind of went step-by-step through the program, and now I am running faster than I ever have before.”Helmer said Pease’s road from a walk-on freshman to a star senior has been a gradual evolution. He said he can’t pinpoint when Pease began to turn it on, but that she will continue to improve because of her work ethic.“With Sarah, it’s ‘Tell me what to do and I’ll do it to the best of my abilities,’” Helmer said. “She never has a bad race, and she never has a bad workout, because she does not allow that to be an option. She just goes hard every day, and there are no wasted days with her.”Pease and Helmer have set their collective sights on achieving three goals this cross country season: win the Big Ten and Regional Championships, earn an All-American honor and be in the top 20 national rankings or better.“She shocked me this last spring when she scored at the National Championships for the first time in the steeplechase,” Helmer said. “Every time I see her do something like that, even though I see her work every day in practice and know what kind of attitude she has, it still shocks me, and I don’t doubt that she will continue to shock me.”
(09/20/10 3:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s and women’s cross country teams dominated Friday at the Indiana Intercollegiate in West Lafayette.In the women’s race, junior Chelsea Blanchard and sophomore Samantha Ginther finished first and second, respectively, and five Hoosiers total finished in the top 10 despite senior Sarah Pease not competing.“Chelsea and Samantha dominated out there,” IU coach Ron Helmer said. “As long as we stay healthy, our team is deep and we showed that by finishing five of the girls in the top 10.”The men matched the one-two finish of the women as junior Ben Hubers and sophomore Zach Mayhew took the top two spots, both finishing more than 10 seconds faster than the rest of the field. Hubers also won the Indiana Open last weekend.“The men’s race ended up being closer than the women’s race as we tried to rest some of our runners, but in both races we accomplished what we wanted to,” Helmer said.Three of the team’s All-Americans, sophomores Andrew Poore and De’Sean Turner and freshman Andy Bayer, did not compete in the race, a move Helmer said was meant to help keep the runner’s legs fresh.Although the Intercollegiate is considered just a stepping stone for the rest of the season, Helmer said the familiarity of athletes and schools added some spice to the competition.“There’s a certain pride issue in meets like this because some of these kids have been running against each other throughout their lives,” Helmer said. “When you are running against some of your old high school rivals, there’s that extra little bit of desire to go out there and do a great job. The last thing you want to do is go out there and lose to someone that you always used to beat, so there’s a lot of little things going on out there.”