Oklahoma State University Athletics
Quotes From The Cowboy Jamboree
October 01, 2011 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
Oct. 1, 2011
OSU Coach Dave Smith
On the men's team title:
“With those first four guys, I was thrilled. I think they did a great job. We had a strategy for the race that was run conservatively for the first half and finish strong, and I think they executed that to perfection. I'm excited for them. We're in the same boat we always are: we're looking for a fifth man. We have one guy with injuries walking around in a boot who could have been a fifth man. We had another kid redshirt who could have been a fifth man. One of our best guys is a little dinged up and we're not sure he's going to run at all this year. So, if you lose three guys that are potential top-five guys, you might struggle a little bit. We have to find someone to step up and take that role.”
On Colby Lowe's race:
“He ran fast. That's the fastest he's ever run out here. With the way he did it, running very conservatively the first half and running the second half faster is a hard way to run fast, but he did it and did a great job of it. I think he's right where he needs to be. He looks like a potential top 10 guy at the national championships for a third-straight year, and that's something we've never had here.”
On Natalja Piliusina's race:
“She did a great job. She had a long track season that didn't get over until late in the summer, and then she had an Achilles problem and she took a good chunk of time off and hasn't been running very long. I asked her to sit back, run with our next group of girls, run with them through first half of the race – keep them together, keep them calm, keep them poised – and on the last half, if you want to go after it, go after it. I put her in a hole: she wasn't going to catch those girls, because a 5K is a lot shorter than an 8K where the guys can come back and catch people. It's hard for a girl in a short race like that, but she did an amazing job. I think she's taken a huge step from where she was last year in cross country.”
On the depth of the women's team:
“On the women's side, we're sitting out one of our top-five girls, who can run with our second, third and fourth girls; she run's right in that pack. You put her in there and we make a very deep, very strong team. Overall, I think we're pretty good. I think we've got some work to do. I don't think we're a lock to make the national championships, but we're certainly well on our way to getting there.”
OSU Senior German Fernandez
On his race:
“It was a good effort. It was my first hard race in a couple months, so today I just went in with the mentality of giving a good effort and not really thinking about time or place. My first main goal was to win as a team, and then get a good effort in.”
On the first big race of the season:
“It was nice to get that little bit of dust off your back and get back into racing and that mentality of competing against other teams. Today, I think it went pretty well. We had four guys in the top 10, so I couldn't ask for anything better right now.”
OSU Senior Colby Lowe
On finishing second:
“When you're about to race, you always want to win. That's the goal of every race you come out to, but today was just about coming out here, getting the feet wet, getting tested out and really just seeing where we are. Today was a good day: you get perfect weather, perfect day and a bunch of great teams out here to run against, and you can't ask for anymore than it was today.”
On his final Jamboree:
“It's wonderful. It's more than anything I could ask for from the guys, just coming out here and proving they're working hard and their work is paying off. Everybody is ready to get back in there and get racing again and they're really pushing hard.”
OSU Sophomore Natalja Piliusina
On how the race went:
“It was OK. It didn't really feel easy because I took off seven weeks in the middle of July and August, so I basically have just five weeks of running. The last mile of the race was kind of tough going uphill, but I saw a pack of five or six girls in front of me so that kept me going. I was just passing one girl after another.”
On taking the team title:
“We won last year and I think it was important for all of us to win it again this year as a team, as well. We're ranked (22nd) right now, so I think it's a good push for all of the girls for motivation to keep going, keep winning and make our way to nationals.”
Diego Estrada- Northern Arizona (University men's individual title)
On winning the race:
“We didn't really know what to expect out there, so I had a Plan A and a Plan B. Plan A: go out and work it. Plan B: wait until the last K or 2K to go. It ended up being that I was forced to use Plan B because I just felt flat. The other guy ran, just worked it, so I had to separate and worry about a fast finish.”
On the course:
“It's a bit deceiving; it looks tougher than it really is. Don't get me wrong, I was working.”
Hillary Kirwa – Cameron (College men's individual title)
On winning the individual title:
“I'm excited about the race. It was kind of tough. I tried my best pushing to get up to the front and keeping it up.”
On the course:
“The course was kind of hard with all the slopes and I had to keep running hard to keep up the pace.”
Coach Brad Peterson – Friends (College women's team title)
On winning the individual and team titles:
“It feels good. It's our first time we've come here as a team, so we're pretty excited to come away with the individual title and the team title. I thought we had a good chance. We're ranked eighth in the NAIA in the national poll. A lot of people don't know who we are, but they'll probably know after today.”
On the scoring five:
“One through five all ran really well. They all ran the goals we set out for them. I thought we could have our leader, Jordan Arnold, close to breaking 18 minutes, and then I wanted the next three to break 19 minutes and the fifth to be under 19:30 and that all happened. I couldn't be prouder of all of them for the way they ran today. That course is very tough that last mile.”
On the team strategy:
“I ran it yesterday and they just kind of walked around parts of it. I noticed the first two miles are pretty fast, so we knew our splits would be fast at the two mile mark, but we really wanted to increase the effort – although the times really wouldn't indicate it – the last mile. I thought we did a really good job of closing strong, even though the times didn't indicate that the last mile. We wanted to have kind of a patient aggression.”
Jordan Arnold – Friends (College women's individual title)
On winning the individual title:
“I feel good. It was pretty tough, but I just tried to go hard and maintain throughout all the hills and stuff.”
On the course:
“The first two miles aren't too bad, but the last mile is pretty tough and it definitely catches up with you.”
Players Mentioned
