TERRE HAUTE —
The streets seemed oddly quiet Sunday night, considering 1,000 elite American athletes were packed into local hotel rooms.
“They should be relaxing,” Northern Arizona University Hall of Famer Freddie Galbreath said before 8 p.m. inside the Hilton Garden Inn. The sprinter from the Class of 1970 was hanging out with the school’s assistant athletic director, Jason Roundy, ready for the title fights at this morning’s NCAA Cross Country National Championships.
Meanwhile, Audra Brown confirmed she’d already had one of her pre-race rituals.
“Peanut butter and toast,” the 22-year-old senior from the University of Toledo chuckled when asked about her ritual. At least that’s the day-before breakfast, which is followed by a perfunctory run of the course and ultimately a “contrast bath” that evening. The bath, she explained, requires two tubs — one filled with icy water and the other scalding hot, and helps prepare her muscles. “Well, this is my last race so I’m looking to go out guns a-blazing,” she said in the hotel’s lobby with her teammates.
This year marks the first time her school’s team has made it to the nationals together, and the speech-pathology major who’s run competitively since seventh grade said she wants to “run my race and run tough” considering the 75 miles of roadwork she’s been running to prepare.
As Indiana State University’s athletic director Ron Prettyman said, cross country is not a sport for the faint of heart.
“Whenever athletes complain about how hard they’re working, I tell them to spend a week with the cross country team and then come see me,” the former basketball and tennis player laughed Sunday night. Up at The Landing on Terre Haute’s north side, Prettyman and others from ISU and the city hosted a welcome banquet for the teams.
“It’s a great event for our city. It’s a great event for our university,” Prettyman said, pointing to banners throughout the facility lauding Terre Haute’s status as “Cross Country Town USA.” The LaVern Gibson course, he said, is nationally celebrated as spectator-friendly, and the community is known for its embrace of the sport.
Karen Billberry, a massage therapist at The Landing’s Temple Spa, worked on people over a table or chair as she explained the value to high-performance athletes. “Actually, when I was in school, I worked on Olympic divers,” she said of her courses at Indiana Therapeutic Massage in Indianapolis, conveniently located next to the headquarters of America’s Olympic swimming and diving programs. “It releases lactic acid in the muscles and increases flexibility, getting them into a state where they’re ready to perform,” she said, explaining that top athletes often get “pre-event” and “post-event” massages.
And Kenny Phillips, ISU Class of 1976, said today’s runners are going to need all the help they can get.
“I’ve been coming out to every meet they’ve had since they built that course,” he said Sunday evening at The Landing.
Phillips ran at Terre Haute North Vigo High School before going to ISU under coach Bill Malloy, where he ran the 800 in track and cross country. “I know it’s going to be a good one,” he said of today’s race, calling out last year’s winner Samuel Chelanga of Liberty University as the likely winner. Chelanga set the course record while winning the 2009 championship, and Phillips said he caught up with him today for a talk. “He just ran effortlessly. He ran like he was walking. I think he’s going to be a tough guy to beat,” he said.
But back at the corner of Wabash Avenue and Seventh Street, Galbreath and Roundy said they have just the man for the job.
“The Skinny Thunder from Down Under,” Roundy said of NAU senior David McNeill who, in addition to being one of the top-ranked competitors, happens to be Australian. “He’s going to take it.”
Galbreath agreed on the pick, recalling his own days running sprints for the school. “Anything under 440,” he said of his races. “Back in the days when they had yards,” he laughed.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
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