The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men's Cross Country hopes to build upon last year's success
08.23.2010 | XC: Men_Old, Track & Field / Cross Country
Aug. 23, 2010
Ryan Graney, Texas Media Relations
Coming into 2010, the Texas men's cross country team is brimming with excitement. A year after a youthful Longhorn squad with just one senior qualified for the national meet, the cohesive group of runners looks forward to the challenge of building upon last year's success.
After training throughout the summer in hopes of improving on their results from a year ago, the cross country locker room is full of optimism and anticipation for the fast-approaching season. The enthusiasm starts at the top with assistant track and field coach John Hayes.
"Each year I'm here it gets better," Hayes said. "I'm really fired up going into this school year. There are still a lot of question marks. We lose our number one. We bring virtually everybody else back. These guys are a good group. They've become more tight-knit each year. They're starting to get where I'm looking for. With that, we'll see big improvements."
The Longhorns have added a handful of talented newcomers to the mix of returning experience. The growing amount of depth and ability among the Longhorn distance runners fosters an atmosphere of healthy competition within the team.
"We're hoping to have an incredibly competitive team on a national level," junior Brian Rhodes-Devey said. "We're going to do that because we're going to have a competitive team within this locker room. We have a lot of really young guys. We have a few transfer students. We have a really talented freshman class. It's going to keep everyone honest. We're going to work really hard as a team. It's going to be hard to make our roster this year. It's going to be hard to travel. That's going to forward us so much. It's going to be such a positive training atmosphere."
Coach Hayes echoed Rhodes-Devey's sentiments.
"We've got a lot of guys who have worked to get to where they are," Hayes said. "That is I think the pride of our team. These guys have come such a long way from just a couple of years ago. To look at our roster now and not have any idea who the top five will be or the top ten will be, that's an exciting thing in our sport. It means either you're really bad or you're pretty good. I think we're on the pretty good side. I think we've got some proven guys from last year that can't sleep on what they did last year. They're better than they were last year. I know they're better than they were last year. They learned a lot. There are also some hungry young guys that we redshirted last year and some new guys that are coming in this year. It's a fun thing to be around."
On a roster that has its share of young talent, the veterans of the team understand it is their role to help mentor the newcomers. With a majority of last season's roster returning, they are ready to assume that role.
"We are a younger team but we still do have more older guys," junior Brock Simmons said. "Last year we had one senior. This year we have more guys that are juniors eligibility-wise but just have been here longer. Everybody is a year older, a year stronger, a year more experienced. We have guys that can help the younger guys, the freshmen even more than we have last year because we've been there.
"As older guys, we want them to work hard and want them to push and want them to keep us honest, but we also want to say you've got a lot of time," Simmons continued. "Don't get ahead of yourself. You want to be there now and you want to be there at nationals. You don't want to fall off the back because you're so tired. I think we can help reel them back a little bit when needed."
Junior Rory Tunningley remembers his freshman season where his performances began to fall off because he overextended himself in training.
"My freshman year I came in thinking that to be good and to be a superstar I needed to go out there and beat everyone every day," Tunningley remembers. "I realized that was a mistake pretty quickly. I felt great in August, but towards the end of the year I started to get really tired. In races it really showed. I didn't run that well. We have a lot of experience to pass on to the younger guys. I think it's a great benefit to have someone who's going to communicate that to them."
With the season officially starting Sept. 1, Coach Hayes hopes to see steady improvement from his athletes. He understands that if his runners work hard every day within their limits that his team has great potential in 2010.
"If we're consistent in what we do, it's better than having an awesome workout and a bunch of crummy workouts because you've overdone yourself on a day," Hayes said. "You've got to be consistently good to be great. That's sums up everything I'm asking from these guys. Consistent in lifestyle and consistent at practice every day. If they do that, you cannot fail to have a very good season."
As an outspoken leader of the team, Rhodes-Devey knows the potential that this Texas team possesses. However, the junior realizes that in order to build on last year's success this year's runners must push themselves every day to be better.
"We know what we can do as a team," Rhodes-Devey said. We proved that last year that we can compete on a national level. I think this year we have high expectations for ourselves. I think that the excitement from last year is going to push us because it's going to keep us motivated. We know that we're a better team than last year. We're a younger team than last year, but we're a more talented team. We're going to have to be a tougher team than last year."
The men's cross country team begins its season Sept. 1 with a dual meet against UTSA in San Antonio.