Oklahoma State University Athletics
Q&A with Dave Smith
August 31, 2012 | Cowgirl Cross Country & Track
Aug. 31, 2012
STILLWATER - With the Oklahoma State cross country teams opening their 2012 season Saturday morning at the Hurricane Festival in Tulsa, we sat down with head coach Dave Smith to discuss the upcoming season.
On the importance of meets at the beginning of the season
"They get increasingly more important as we go through the season. Early in the season, it's just to see how we are. At the Hurricane Invitational, we want to run well. We want to compete well, and we want to win the competitions we have. As you get deeper into the season, they get more and more important. The Cowboy Jamboree is important to us because it's the one meet we have every year in Stillwater and we want to do well on our course. It's important in that way. They're all important for preparing for the championship races and for determining what our top seven are."
On the team's practice
"We do very similar workouts year to year. The overall workout plans change slightly because we make adjustments to our personnel and our experience. For the most part, we are keeping with a similar program in recent years. You can kind of look back and compare. Right now, our 11th and 12th girls are running about where our third and fourth girls were last year at this time. I think the women have made a huge step forward. I'm excited to see how it translates into competition. In the early season training, I think we're way ahead of where we were last year. The men, I think, might be the most focused and committed group we've ever had as a whole. We've had very committed and focused individuals on all of our teams, but this is the first time from one to 20 that we've got a group of guys that really understands and really gets the challenge that we're facing. They're committed to winning a national championship. I'm excited."
On Tom Farrell and Natalja Piliusina
"They both had big track seasons in the spring. A great track season like that can be a stepping off point into the next year. I think it can launch another round of improvement. When you have a big track season like that, you come out with a lot of confidence. Tom, unfortunately, was injured in the summer, so he missed a lot of time. He's still not back to running. We're still cross training and nursing him back to health slowly. I think he'll be ready by the end of the cross country season, but we're not going to force it or rush it. He's an incredibly talented athlete, and we just have to be careful with him and not do anything that might jeopardize his future. I'm confident that he'll be back. He's an exceptional athlete. By the time we get around to mid-October and early November, he'll be ready to go. Natalja also had a big summer. She PRed and made the finals at the European Championships in the 800 meters where she ran a personal best in the semis. She then took some time off. We are doing the same thing with her that we did with Tom. She didn't have any serious injuries like Tom, but it's a solid two years of training and competing for her without a break. We're trying to take a break with her right now, and let her come back to fitness very gradually. She probably won't race in our first few meets. As long as she's healthy, she'll run at the Big 12 Championships. That might be her first race. We're not in a rush with her either."
On outstanding newcomers
"On the men's team, it's really tough. Our team is so deep and so talented that it's hard for any newcomer to really have a fair shot at making our top seven. If you're a freshman and not in our top seven, we're probably going to redshirt you. Having said that, Craig Nowak looks really good. We knew he was good when we signed him and he did some big things in the high school track season this year. We were cautiously optimistic about what kind of impact he might have this year, but he's way ahead of where I thought he would be. He's very determined to make our top seven, and I'm not sure that he won't. He looks really good. On the women's side, at least in terms of cross country, we've had three women come to the front and look like they will have an impact, Savannah Camacho, Samantha Nightingale and Monica Lake. They've all looked good. Had this been last year, they would have been cinches for our top seven. The whole team got better. They're in the hunt for it for sure. They're all very competitive young women. They want a spot on that top seven and I wouldn't be shocked if all three of them run at one point in our top seven."
On expectations for the season
"You always want to see improvement. For the men's team, at least in cross country, it's pretty tough to improve on what we've done recently. I think we might be better than we've been in a while. Like I said, our depth, focus and commitment is just at a level that surpassed anything that I've ever seen as a group before. The men's goal is the same as every year. We want to win the Big 12 and we want to win a national championship. Those are the two things we talk about the most. Last year, we didn't win the national championship and we had some disappointed guys. It was kind of a lesson, and I think we learned something last year. Maybe we started to think that we were better than we were and started to think it would just come easily. The guys got very focused this summer and they're hungry. We might not have the upfront power we've had in recent years with losing three All-Americans in German Fernandez, Colby Lowe and John Stublaski. Three guys like that who have been in our top five the last two years, that's a big void to fill and we've got some guys that have done their work. The women's team, we want to keep getting better. Last year, we got third in the Big 12. We ran our way to nationals and kind of had a letdown. Some women were just really happy to be there and were relieved that we made it. They put all of their emotional investment into getting there, and once they got there, it was kind of a letdown. I don't think we went into the race as hungry as we should have been. Again, I think the women learned from that. I think they came out of last year with a lot higher expectations than they've had in the past. We're hoping for a big finish for the women as well. I think this could be the year that the women make a big leap forward in the national standings."
