A group of two dozen long-distance runners sat chatting under the steps of Manley Field House Wednesday, waiting for Syracuse track and field head coach Chris Fox to come in and give a final speech before the team prepared to leave for Princeton. By the end of the short address, after Fox’s voice stopped echoing throughout the otherwise empty gym, a random voice blurted out an important reminder for the weekend.

‘And don’t forget your running shoes,’ one of the players said. ‘And if you do, at least don’t let Coach know until you’re sure you can’t get them in time.’

The group will take that loose approach into its upcoming Larry Ellis Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Weaver Stadium. The track and field team will make its annual trip to Princeton, N.J., to compete against 25 other northeastern schools, including Columbia, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Rutgers and Seton Hall.

‘Princeton is a great trip. It’s probably the best facility on the East Coast,’ Fox said. ‘The weather this time of year is usually perfect for what we do.’

Sunny weather aside, several long-distance runners will be making their first runs since the Stanford Invitational three weeks ago. The downtime has given several athletes a chance to catch their breaths and prepare for the end of the season.

And as the season winds down, this is where teams really start to bring out their best performances.

‘This time of year is a combination of strength and speed,’ Fox said. ‘This is the end of the strength phase as we start to transition into some faster stuff. They should feel ready. We’ve made a lot of improvements in 20 days.’

Graduate student Jeff Scull understands the meaning of downtime and echoed Fox’s sentiments for conditioning as the season moves on.

‘It’s going to go fast,’ Scull said of the pacing of the Larry Ellis Invitational. ‘And you just get in the train and go as hard as you can. But in (NCAA) Regionals, most of them go pretty slow, and then in the last mile it picks up. You have to worry about strength and speed in those later races.’

For this upcoming meet, Scull admits that there’s nothing one can really train on specifically, outside of consistently putting in good workouts. This is a period in which runners need to track their mileage and try to stay fresh.

‘Later on in the season, I need to work more on my finishing kick because then the races become a lot more tactical,’ Scull said. ‘But at this point it’s important to just be as fit as you can and to go out and get a solid time.’

With the relatively mild Princeton meet on the horizon for the weekend, several runners seem to be keeping a cautious eye on the Big East championships. Junior distance runner Katie Hursey is proud of the progress her team has made this season yet excited for what can still be accomplished.

‘I feel like it’s completely different,’ Hursey said. ‘We’re going for places now, instead of just times. And the times that we’re aiming for are also a lot faster, too.’

Hursey will compete in the women’s 1,500-meter run this year, her first appearance in the event.

Normally on the distance side with the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runners, Hursey is making a switch to a longer race in preparation for the bigger meets. She is hoping to place near the 4:20-minute mark this weekend.

This week, it seems as though runners and coaches alike are on the same page ¾ go out and have fun this weekend, but stay focused. With a keen sense for geography, Fox prioritizes the runners’ expectations and is sure to let his team know what they should be shooting for.

‘We hope to get more runners to qualify for the NCAA Regionals,’ Fox said. ‘That’s what this race is about. Which means you have to be in one of the top 48 times east of the Mississippi River.’

 

zoirvin@syr.edu

 

Published on April 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm