What is exciting about cross country?
Well, as The Chronicle sports staff's primary defender of the sport, I guess it is my civic duty to try to explain what I like about cross country.
Many people enjoy sports like basketball, football and soccer because the games are exciting to watch. In those types of athletic competition, it is apparent -- and often dramatic -- when the turning point of a game occurs. For example, a key soccer goal, a long scoring drive in football or a well-timed three-point shot can be crucial to the outcome of a game. In these sports, teammates with different skills combine their talents to achieve a team-oriented goal.
Popular spectator sports also have a wide diversity of plays and strategies which can be employed, keeping viewers speculating about what will happen next. Also, much of the action -- like a slam dunk or a 50-yard touchdown pass -- is aesthetically appealing to a fan.
Someone watching a cross country race can, at various times during the event, see a group of people running on flat terrain, see the same group of people running up a steep hill, and see the same collection of runners sprint down an incline. Isn't this amazing diversity and drama?
Okay, this might be an exaggeration of the appeal of cross country to spectators. Since college courses are eight kilometers long for men and five kilometers for women, it is, of course -- no pun intended -- impossible to see most of the action in a race. In fact, running enthusiasts will be disappointed to learn that they won't be able to watch any intercollegiate cross country action at Duke this year, since the Blue Devils aren't hosting any meets this fall.
You are probably asking -- if you are actually reading this article, which I guess is unlikely, given the subject -- if cross country really isn't that great of a spectator sport, how can it possibly be exciting?
I guess I could start by explaining why I cover it for The Chronicle. For one thing, I ran cross country in high school, so I suppose that I should be able to appreciate the amount of effort which the Duke runners put into practice. Also, I know that if the cross country teams receive inadequate coverage, Jason Blank, my roommate from freshman year, will complain to me.
But I do feel that cross country can have a broader appeal to sports fans -- and to Duke sports fans in particular. Believe it or not, cross country at the collegiate level involves a great amount of strategy, teamwork and diversity of athletic skills.
Physical endurance is not the only athletic talent which cross country runners need. Strength is also important -- try running up a steep hill at a competitive speed four miles into a race. Also, some runners can utilize speed to have a strong kick at the end of a race -- these competitors help provide many of the sport's exciting finishes.
As for strategy, runners need to control their pace so that they don't push themselves too hard early in a race, only to "die" -- not literally -- later in the event. A slow start can be equally bad, since it makes it almost impossible to catch the leading pack.
Runners from the same team also work together during a race. Besides encouraging each other during a race, teammates help one another maintain the proper pace, enabling them to be in the right position at the end of a meet. Ideally, many college cross country squads, including those at Duke, hope that their top five runners -- the ones who factor into the team's score -- will finish a race within a minute of each other.
And Duke's teams are becoming more competitive. Although both the men's and women's squads have been perennial Atlantic Coast Conference doormats for most of the past decade, things are starting to change.
Led by senior Pat Kelly, sophomore Darin Mellinger and juniors Pat Neville and Joe Crespo, the men's team has a realistic shot of moving up to fifth place in the ACC.
The Duke women also have strong prospects for this season. With seniors Robin Schretter and Amy Gravitt and sophomore Raquel Salume leading a very talented group of freshmen, the Blue Devils could reach unprecedented heights in next month's conference meet.
Sure, this isn't the level of success which some other Duke teams may typically enjoy, but it sure isn't bad for the only ACC program which doesn't award scholarships to its athletes.
Furthermore, the cross country teams are almost always enthusiastic about their performances. It is rare when either Mike Forbes, the women's head coach, or Norm Ogilive, the men's assistant coach, is displeased with his team's performance in a meet. It seems that in every race the past two years, at least a few Duke runners have turned in stellar performances. They may not be nationally ranked or even be a threat to win the ACC championship, but in their own way, the Duke men's and women's cross country teams are successful.
David Heinen is a Trinity junior and assistant sports editor of The Chronicle.
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