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August 29, 2008

NCAA championships to return to Terre Haute for at least one more year

By Craig Pearson

TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute’s bid to build its reputation as Cross Country Town USA continued with Tuesday’s announcement that it will be the host city for the 2009 NCAA Division I cross country championships.

On Nov. 24 of this year, the LaVern Gibson Championship Course will be the site of the men’s and women’s national championships for the fifth-consecutive year and sixth time overall.

Early this year, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association discussed making the course a permanent site, but chose for the time being, to go on a year-by-year basis. The USTFCCCA makes a recommendation to the NCAA.

“We’re extremely honored to once again be chosen by the NCAA to serve as host of the championships,” said Indiana State men’s track and cross country coach John McNichols. “Having this meet once again is the result of a lot of hard work from our championship committee, the university and its administration, and from the entire community of Terre Haute.”

ISU women’s track and cross country coach John Gartland is the acting president of the USTFCCCA. While in Phoenix for the organization’s annual meetings, Gartland said he and McNichols get plenty of feedback from coaches around the nation about the meet.

“I think people are very happy with our course and the way we’ve conducted the national meet,” Gartland said during the January meetings.

Much work has been done to improve the course over the years. The passionate coaches and ISU staff are to be commended for continuing to fine tune the venue. The unique course provides spectators a great view of a national-championship race that always includes future Olympians.

“As a committee, we have not settled on our previous successes with the meet,” said McNichols. “We are constantly looking for ways to improve the meet, the course and the community as well. Terre Haute has come to really embrace this event and the results can be seen throughout town. Our current and future successes are due to a strong community effort and we look forward to putting on another first-class championship event in 2009.”



• Look ahead to November — On the men’s side, the 2007 runner-up Galen Rupp will be back in 2008 to go for his first individual NCAA cross country title. The 2007 5,000-meter NCAA track champion was outkicked by Liberty’s Josh McDougal in a classic duel on the 10,000-meter course last year.

Behind Rupp, Oregon should contend for the team title after the Ducks won their first men’s cross title since 1977. The 22-year-old was 13th in the 10,000 in Beijing this year.

Alabama and Wisconsin are teams with potential to end Oregon’s one-year reign.

• Minor tweak — In the past, the top 30 finishers and the top 30 American-born runners were honored as NCAA cross country All-Americans.

That will change this year, with only the top 40 overall finishers, regardless of nationality, being awarded All-American honors.

“Kids and coaches will know immediately if they earned All-American honors,” Gartland said.



Craig Pearson can be reached by e-mail at craig.pearson@tribstar.com or by phone at (812) 231-4357.

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