Bulldogs endure sloppy conditions at MVC meet

Going into the Missouri Valley Conference championships, the Drake men’s and women’s cross country teams had posted strong results at the previous meets. They had all the necessary tools to put together a championship run at conference: fitness, confidence, strong leaders and, most importantly, a will to win. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the strength of their rivals and the wet course conditions subdued both squads in Peoria, Ill. last Saturday.
On the men’s side, Illinois State and Southern Illinois dominated the last 400 of the 8,000 meters. The depth of both teams kept many Drake runners out of the top 10, while Illinois State’s Scott Krapf pulled away from the rest of the pack to gain a first-place finish. Illinois State won the meet, barely edging out pre-race favorite Southern Illinois by one point for the title, while the Drake men’s squad finished sixth.
The runners also had to deal with wet and muddy conditions in Peoria Saturday, as the rains the day before left parts of the course completely submerged in water.
“We basically ran through a small lake at some parts,” freshman runner Cammy Dole said. “It was really difficult to get traction.”
Head Coach Dan Hostager said he felt that the conditions may have affected the race.
“I hate to use course conditions as an excuse,” Hostager said. “But I’ve never seen a course quite that bad off for a college meet.”
The Drake men put forth a valiant effort. Sophomore Derek Campbell finished first for the Bulldogs in 25th place, with a time of 27:37. Senior Jeff Grassmeyer and sophomore Colin Hagan also cracked the top 40 with times of 27:59 and 28:00, respectively.
Coach Hostager said that his team didn’t quite adapt to the conditions as well as they had hoped. Hostager noted that Drake did beat out Wichita State for the sixth-place spot – a team Drake finished behind at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational earlier in the year.
On the women’s side, junior Casey McDermott raised her performance, once again, and earned all-conference honors with a ninth-place finish overall. McDermott anchored the women’s squad to an eighth-place team finish in the conference with a time of 19:14. Junior runner Katie Coomer cracked the top 40 with a time of 20:29.
“Our conference was really, really tough this year, a lot deeper than previous years,” Hostager said.
But the Bulldogs’ season isn’t over yet, and they don’t plan on giving up any time soon. Although they may not have reached the bar this time, the desire to stretch further is there. The passion, the fire, the intensity that has driven the team throughout this year cannot be extinguished in one day.
Hostager said he is looking forward to NCAA regionals in two weeks.
“Traditionally, we run better at regionals than conference because some of the pressure is off,” he said.
In the next two weeks the Bulldogs will be looking to up the intensity in practice.
“I don’t think we need to change anything in practice, just keep going with what we are doing,” Dole said. “Coach Hostager keeps saying our fitness is there.”
Hostager said he believes that rebuilding any lost confidence is key to success at regionals.
“If you get intimidated by the competition your performance will suffer there, too,” he said.
Next time the cleats of the Bulldogs’ shoes reach the grass they will be racing for more than a spot in the NCAA meet.
“We are just going to go down there and redeem ourselves,” Hostager said.
Drake will run in the NCAA Regionals Nov. 14 in Terre Haute, Ind. The men’s and women’s race starts at 11 a.m.