Byrne talks about the upcoming NCAA Championship race
November 17, 2008 | Men's Cross Country
Mick Byrne met with the local media Monday to talk the Badgers 10th-straight Big Ten title, seventh-consecutive Regional crown and their chances at the NCAA Championship next Monday.
MICK BYRNE: 'Obviously we're coming off a win from the regional meet this past Saturday, the Great Lakes Regional. It was an exciting win for us. I don't think there are any negatives any time you go out there and win a race.
Obviously the objective going into Saturday's meet was to win it, number one, and also to come out of there not banged up, and especially with our big guns. We accomplished both of those goals. All of our guys are feeling good, were feeling good yesterday, and looking forward to going ahead to next Monday's meet.
We did have to deal with some, just to piggyback on a word that Mike (Eaves) used, some diabolical conditions out there last Saturday. It was pretty muddy and wet and windy, but we survived, and the kids did a great job.
So when we go to Terre Haute next Monday, and we're excited about it, obviously the goal has been throughout the season to get back on the podium top four teams. There are obviously some big guns out there. Any time you go to a national championship, there are a couple of favorites, and certainly Oklahoma State and Oregon are the big favorites. But behind all those guys, number three and four, we think that we're in there with a shot. Certainly Stanford is pretty good. Portland, they're good also. I think we're pretty good. So it's going to come down to who's going to put it together on the date.'
QUESTION #1: Mick, is your club at 100% now or closer to it'
BYRNE: 'Much closer than we were a week ago. Much closer than we were at the Big Ten, certainly. Matt Withrow and Stu Eagon came through, are coming through pretty well. Matt survived Saturday, did pretty well. We slowed him down a little bit. Three-quarters of the way through the race, we told him to back off. And, you know, Stu did real well. So with those two in much better shape than they were two or three weeks ago is certainly going to help us next week.'
QUESTION #2: I know how nervous you were before the Big 10s. Is this starting to be a little bit more enjoyable for you'
BYRNE: 'Well, I didn't cut myself shaving today, so that's pretty good. No, I think it's just a different field this week. We're excited about packing up and leaving on Friday, and getting ready to go to the national championships. Obviously it's something the kids train hard all summer, all fall for. You know, there are some things you're going to be able to control this week, kids getting anxious then and not butting heads with each other and things like that.
And hopefully, it's snowing out there right now, which is, I didn't ever think I'd say it, but I'm excited about that. And a year ago I was obviously hoping for some warmer weather, but we're hoping and praying for some colder weather next week. Anything in the 30s we'd be excited about. It might slow down some guys in the race, and all our guys are tough Midwesterners and they want it to snow. They want colder weather.'
QUESTION #3: Mick, what's the atmosphere like at the NCAAs ' Is it like any other meet that you've been to'
BYRNE: 'No. It's completely different. The race is Monday obviously. The staring down starts on Friday. Saturday evening is the championship banquet, which is kind of exciting for the kids. You know, all the girls get dressed up, the guys, you know, do the best they can at getting dressed up, and, the coaches do the best they can. And, I think it's a great situation for the kids. They go and meet kids from other teams. They socialize with the kids, hang out, and it's just a good opportunity to meet and hang out.
When you get out to the course, obviously, and practice on Saturday and Sunday, there's a lot of that staring down stuff. Our kids have been through that. We're throwing Stu Eagon and Christian Wagner, it's their fourth national championships. They're kind of used to that. So don't get too cut open, I guess is the main thing. But it certainly does have a different feel.
Terre Haute is a great course. The whole community up there, kids, high school kids come out from all over the place. College kids miss class or get excuse cards and they're going to the meet. You know, there's going to be 10,000, 15,000 spectators out there at that meet, and that certainly has a different feel. It's on TV. So, you know, it's an exciting time for the sport. Not always do you get a cross-country race on national TV, and that's a good thing. Anything they can do to promote the sport is always good.'
QUESTION #4: How do you think the weather could affect a West Coast powerhouse team like Oregon'
BYRNE: 'Well, if it's 50 degrees, they'll probably be pretty happy. If it's 20 degrees, they might not be. You know, it's more our kids are used to running in the cold obviously, and they survived Saturday. They did a great job Saturday. So I can only focus on what's good for our team, and let the other coaches worry about their team. So we're looking for it to be pretty cool, and that's the condition that our kids like. They feel comfortable running in anything around 30 degrees. '
QUESTION #6: Mick, what have you learned from your athletes'
BYRNE: 'I think the big thing is that you have to trust your instincts when you're dealing with kids, and especially good kids, kids of our caliber. And I'm not panicking and I don't think at any stage during the season there was any time we really panicked.
We knew that we were going to come down to the wire in terms of time for Stu Eagon, and also for Matt Withrow, who were carrying injuries in the early part of the season. And in Matt's case, he carried his injury all the way back to the summer. But he's a good athlete. We know when he's fit, he's going to produce for us. You could see it coming over the last three weeks. He did struggle at the Big Ten. He had a hard time on the hills in Michigan, and he was pretty upset after that. But trying to just keep him focused and let him know that one race doesn't make a season.
I knew a week ago, we did a workout on the track, and I knew that he was going to be much better this past Saturday, and he's certainly going to be much better on Monday. And that's the type of kid that every week is just going to get better and better. And having been through three of these meets, he knows what it's about. He won't panic out there. He didn't panic last Saturday at the regional, and ran a real smart race, and more importantly, left something in the tank for next week.'
QUESTION #7: Mick, you guys have a new cross-country course opening out at the Ridge. Can you ever envision a time where maybe the NCAA meet might be here'
BYRNE: 'Oh, absolutely. That's the plan. I think we'll start off, next year we're going to host two meets, a low key meet in early September and then we're going to work on an invitational meet later, a bigger invitational later in September, early October. We haven't finalized the dates yet. The goal is to host Big Tens, and we're going to certainly put in a bid. We were just talking about it, Jim (Stintzi) and I, to put in a bid for the regional meet, the Great Lakes Regional for 2011. Then we'll see where we go from there. But that's obviously the goal is to host major competitions on the course.'
