Oct. 28, 2010
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By: Robert Ivory
On Friday afternoon, the cross-country team will head to Chicago for Horizon League championships, competing at 12:00 p.m. EDT at Montrose Beach. However, you will not find the team's coach, Joe Jaketic, at the finish line.
"I do not need to cheer them the last 10 yards," Jaketic said. "I am always 400 meters from the finish to encourage them to finish hard."
When the Vikings line up at the end of the week, they know that they have already accomplished much this year.
"Our goal at the beginning of the year was to have them run better than they did last year," Jaketic said. "If we get the PRs (personal records) individually and we all get PRs, we will improve as a team."
Improving has been no issue for the team as they go into the race with spectacular performances during the year.
"I told them they have to believe," Jaketic said. "I really think winning the Shawnee State Invitational helped them show their hard work is paying off. We were getting PRs, but we were not winning, but at Shawnee we got PRs and won."
At the Shawnee State Invitational earlier in the month, the Vikings got their first victory under Jaketic, finishing with four of the top-10 finishers.
"It is good to see that there are four or five at the mile marker together as a pack," Jaketic said. "I have never had that. They have no ego problems, they do not fall into the pecking order and I encourage them to push each other.
"This is a close team and they support each other in everything they do."
The Viking's fastest runner was junior Allison Craine, who finished with a 19:41. Craine has been the ace for the Vikings this year as she has the four top times on the year.
"Since 2005, we had 18 sub-20-minute performances," Jaketic said. "This year, we have had 21 sub-20-minute performances. Allison (Craine) is already in the 18s".
Although he was completely not sure, Jaketic remarked that the last time somebody broke the 19-minute mark at Cleveland State was Amy Ritzman who was inducted to the CSU Hall of Fame last year.
Craine is, however, only the third to do so in Cleveland State history, joining Ritzman and Ann Henderson.
The team has attributed their success to the notorious difficult workouts that Jaketic puts the team through.
"I loved the speed work and loved the interval workout," Jaketic said of his time as a runner.
He and Dr. Kenneth Sparks, Director of the Human Performance Laboratory at CSU, came up with the philosophy of giving the team less rest after workouts. After doing a quarter mile, they are only resting for 60 seconds.
"In a race, you cannot stop," Jaketic said. "Your body has to respond to being tired."
The workouts have done tremendous things for the s quad, giving them a realistic goal of a better finish in the conference.
"We wanted to be better in the league at the beginning of the year," Jaketic said. "I want to beat more than one school, but I want to beat more than one. If we beat two schools in at the league championship, it would be the first time that was done since at CSU since1996."
Jaketic has tried to revive the cross-country team from the basement of the Horizon League and has done it with a simple message to his team and much has to do with the theory of standing 400 meters away from the finish.
"We do not want anybody to pass up in the last 400 meters," Jaketic said. "You can make up some difference in the last 400 meters and you can lose a race in 400 meters."