Oklahoma State University Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
November 22, 2010 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
Nov. 22, 2010
Head Coach Dave Smith
On the Cowboys winning their second straight NCAA title
“It was awesome. Just really proud of the guys. They've worked extremely hard since last year. They didn't just rest on winning one championship. They were focused to win this one. It was 364 days of preparation to win and it all came together very nicely today.”
On the team's strategy at the NCAA Championships
“We knew we had three guys that I thought were as good as any top three in the country. I wanted those guys to go out and run and to put themselves into position to beat whoever the top third man was, I wanted them to beat that person. They did that very well. They ran with Stanford's top two and Tom Farrell, who I thought going in was the best fourth man in the country, I wanted him to play it safe and not run with our top three even though he had been doing that all year. I wanted him to play it a little more conservatively and sit back and finish well. He did that to perfection. The three guys who really came through biggest for us were John Stublaski, Joe Manilafasha and Ryan Prentice. All three ran outstanding races. Stubs and Joe were big. Stubs made All-American. We asked him to go out in the 80-to-100 range and move up and he did that extremely well and Joe was not far behind. Ryan Prentice lost his shoe in the first 1,000 meters and had to run the next 9,000 meters with one shoe on and one shoe off. Having to go through that and still focus is tough, but he did a great job.”
More on the team's strategy
“The first three were a known quantity. They did what they have been doing all year and we needed them to run like they had and they did that. They did exactly what they needed to do. I wanted them not to take any risks, not to gamble and to play it safe. Those are three guys who could have run for the individual win. I asked them to do that and they went along with that. Girma Mecheso, Colby Lowe and German Fernandez are all good enough to challenge for individual titles, but we were focused on winning the team title. The problem with going after the individual title is that you can overextend yourself and not be able to finish very well and that sacrifices a lot of points. Those guys did what we needed them to do. Stubs had the race of his career and I'm really proud of that guy because I have been really hard on him and have put a lot of pressure on him to step up. I've said over and over again that we needed a fifth man to come through. Both he and Joe Manilafasha beat every other number five man competing here at nationals. That's tough to do and a real tribute to how well those guys ran.”
On what winning back-to-back NCAA Championships means for the program
“It solidifies us as a legitimate top program and one of the best programs in the country. Maybe winning one is lucky, like catching lightning in a bottle, but to win back-to-back and to cement yourself as one of the top programs in the country does wonders for our recruiting and for each individual runner on our team. Now every time that we do well, it gives them that much more confidence in themselves and in how we're training and in what we are doing.”
On the Cowboys' wide margin of victory
“I did not expect that. I thought it might be 30 or 40 points between first and fourth. I say this all the time – you've got to be a little bit lucky on race day. You've got to be fit, you've got to be prepared, you've got to have talented kids, but you've got to be a little bit lucky, too. There were some teams out there that dealt with some bad luck today. We didn't. We were extremely fortunate all year because we didn't deal with many injury problems. We didn't deal with any major illnesses. We came into the race with our guns fully loaded. That was probably the difference between being a tight race and winning it like how we did. The scores didn't reflect how tough some of those teams were out there. If we ran that race again, the score would not look like that. It would be much closer. We just had luck on our side today.”
On winning Oklahoma State's 50th NCAA team title
“That's awesome. I love this university. I love the athletic department. The entire athletic department is going in the right direction. With soccer going as far as they have already and now looking for a spot in the Final Four and football in the top 10, everybody is just rolling. We're just thrilled to be a part of it.”
On the team's performance
“The race went just how we wanted it to go. Girma, Colby and me went out and ran in the top 30 group and settled down until 2K to go, and we just let it rip. It went to our plan and we felt good for that last 2K. Still, there was one moment where I got kind of panicked when Colby got tripped with 1K to go, but he caught up to the group in two seconds so he really showed how great he is right there. I can't even explain it, how happy I was when we finished because I saw Stublaski and Tom Farrell finish in the top 30 and I knew right then that we won. It was a great feeling because everyone did their jobs and we won back-to-back NCAA Championships and I don't think there are a lot of teams that can do that.”
On sacrificing a shot at the NCAA individual title to stick to the team strategy
“We really can't worry about how you finish as an individual because you have to put the team first and then the individual aspect will take care of itself if you just run hard and do what you have to do. That's what we did today. I can't say enough about how happy I am with this team. Everyone put it all out there. I did my job. My goal was to finish in the top 10 and I took eighth, so I can't say anything bad about that.”
On John Stublaski's performance
“John Stublaski came up very big for us. I thought he was a top-50 kind of guy, but he finished in the top 30. When I saw him, I was jumping around. It was crazy. Stublaski's so tall, so you can see him from like a mile away. He always brings it when it matters and I know he's going to remember this race for the rest of his life.”
On winning back-to-back titles
“This is very special because it's very hard to win back-to-back championships. You have to be on and you have to have some kind of luck along the way. Not only did we beat teams, but we destroyed them. That really sends a message that we're one of the top-ranked teams in the nation.”
On the wide margin of victory
“We thought the race would be close, but in the back of our minds, we knew that if we ran like how we had all season, we could win by a lot. Nobody has the one-through-four kind of runners that we do. It's a quadruple threat. I don't know how to explain it. It's hard to put into words because I'm extremely happy.”
On the team's strategy
“We had a plan going in to stay in the first pack group. We sat back in the first 5K and at about six or 7K, we started moving up and making our way and then at 8K, we were going for it and trying to place up there as high as we can and just get as many points as we can for OSU.”
On winning back-to-back titles
“It's something we've been working for after last year's win. We went back to the drawing board and looked at what we needed to get better at to win again. At the beginning of the season, that was our goal and we kept working hard and kept pushing through it all. It led to the victory and to what we wanted to accomplish. It's an unbelievable feeling. Winning back-to-back NCAA Championships and getting the 50th national title for OSU is very special to share with these guys.”
Players Mentioned
