By Steve Holt, Sports Writer
After almost three weeks of witnessing the depth of the talent pool on his men’s and women’s teams, head cross country coach Derek Hood’s grin is as big as his expectations.
Who wouldn’t smile, however, when a combined six all-American men and women from a year ago are joined by a batch of talented newcomers, to form one of the deepest teams in recent history?
“I’m very impressed,” Hood said, smiling.
Hood, who has been at ACU for a month, is clear about his goals for the men’s and women’s distance runners, who will compete for the first time Friday at the ACU Classic.
“Our goals: For the women, qualifying for the national meet, and for the men, we’re going to try to win it,” said Hood, who knows a little about winning after leading two high school squads to district and state successes during his coaching career in the Dallas-Fort Worth MetroPlex.
Doing his part to achieve the team’s goal will be the top returning distance runner in Division II, sophomore Nicodemus Naimadu, who became only the second individual cross country national champion in 2004 and went on to win an indoor title and two outdoor titles in track and field.
After briefly considering transferring to the University of Alabama to run with a few other Kenyans, Naimadu has recently settled in to stay at ACU. The arrival of a friend from Kenya and a former competitor from Africa aided Naimadu’s decision to stay, Hood said.
While Naimadu likely will run in an echelon all his own this fall, teammates Martin O’Kello and Lucky Hadebe won’t be far behind. O’Kello, a senior from Kampala, Uganda, claimed his first major victory in 2004 by winning the Lone Star Conference individual championship with a time of 24:14.27. Hadebe, an indoor national champion in the 800 meters in 2005, was an all-conference and all-region performer in cross country in 2004.
But the pool of talent doesn’t end there on the men’s side. Freshman Serge Gasore of Rwanda, Phillip Birgen of Kenya, and Alberic Nkurunziza of Burundi already have caught Hood’s attention with their performances at practice thus far.
“These are three guys who are 6-3 who have some wheels,” Hood said. “I’m really fired up about seeing them run with Nicodemus, Martin, and Lucky. It puts a smile on my face.”
Hood is also smiling about the possibility that his women’s team will qualify for the national meet for the first time in years, led by the “tremendous trio” of Adeh Mwamba, Olha Kryv’yak and Trina Cox.
Mwamba, a senior, will be a contender for a national title after placing ninth at the 2004 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. Kryv’yak, a sophomore, placed third and fourth at the conference and regional cross country meets in 2004, respectively, after red-shirting her freshman season because of a heat-induced injury. Rounding out the trio is Santa Rosa, Calif., product Trina Cox, who finished fourth and third, respectively, at the 2004 conference and regional meets.
The trio’s talent, however, perhaps wasn’t fully recognized until the 2005 track and field season, in which Mwamba, Kryv’yak and Cox were at their best. Kryv’yak was the individual champion in the indoor mile and finished second in the 1,500-meter run at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Abilene. Cox finished sixth in the indoor mile in 2005 and third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase outdoors.
Hood said the trio returned from summer in shape, which set him at ease.
“That was my biggest fear prior to seeing the team – that people showed up and did the work they needed to over the summer,” Hood said. “The top returning runners did that.”
And that is bad news for Wildcat opponents, as Kryv’yak predicts the team could qualify for the national meet, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 1996.
“We’re in better shape than we were last year in cross country,” Kryv’yak said. “We’re really going to work hard to qualify.”
Kryv’yak is looking for a breakout season individually, after suffering a severe case of heat stroke during practice in 2003 and being told by doctors that she “would never run fast again.” That experience, which sidelined her during the 2003 cross country season, as well as her comeback in 2004-05, impacted her outlook for this season.
“It proved to myself that even after a really, really bad condition, I can do well,” Kryv’yak said. “I really want to win nationals.”
After the top three runners, Hood said work will need to be done to “hammer out” the fourth and fifth spots on the women’s team. Hood sees several candidates to fill those spots, including freshman Hayley Garner from Keller, and seniors Abbie Waters and Mollye Stanford.
Kryv’yak said the adjustment to a new coach also has gone smoothly thus far.
“It’s always hard in the beginning adjusting to a new coach,” she said, “but we really like the new coach. He’s really positive, he tries to spend time with us, and we’re trying to help him get adjusted to us and show him that we’re OK.”
The ACU Cross Country Classic, which will be Friday at Sherrod Park (behind Adams and Smith residence halls), will mark Hood’s first opportunity to organize a collegiate meet. He said the experience of bringing in other colleges and universities, as well as overseeing the running of the meet Friday, is preparing him for when ACU plays host to the men’s and women’s NCAA Division II South Central Regional meet on the same course Nov. 5.
Twelve or more colleges and universities will compete Friday, including Angelo State, Wayland Baptist, New Mexico Junior College, Incarnate Word, and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
The women’s three-mile race will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the men’s four-mile race at 6:30 p.m.
Hood said he has not set specific expectations for his teams’ performances Friday, as the meet falls early in the season amid a challenging training phase at practice.
“I want that gun to go off and see that competitive side come out,” he said.
