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November 13, 2008
IT’S GO TIME
Donavan White '12 -- DO YOU FEEL IT REDPACK! The one race we’ve been training for all year as finally arrived. It is now up to us to take full advantage of it and run our way into the national meet. For all of you who missed this week Chapel talk, you missed out. I am so pumped up for this weekend and am ready to go. I know we will miss the game, but I like to consider us still fortunate. We are fortunate because not only do we get to also participate in some DePauw butt kicking when we race them this weekend, but we also get a shot to show teams like Denison and Hope that we are better than what we were earlier in the year. The time for talk has ceased a long time ago. Now, it is a time to really get our minds right. Be ready for any and every weather condition on Saturday. Be ready for a muddy, dry, fast, slow, hilly or flat course. All of the outside factors don’t really matter at this point. All that really matters is us showing up ready to compete and beat some butt. We can’t just have the want to go to Nationals, everyone on a team across the nation can have the want. But what we need to have is that compelling desire or nagging itch that continues to drive us forward and won’t be satisfied until we are on that starting line the week after Saturday. REDPACK, Saturday is it for us. WE EITHER BACKUP AND PROVE ALL OF THE THINGS WE’VE SAID TO EACH OTHER OR WE GO HOME WONDERING WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN.
"Just watch out for the guns, they'll get ya."
William A. Digman III '12 -- I sit here, in my room, watching the classic comedy "Anchorman" and of course finishing up some homework, Coach. I find the love, hilariousness(If that's a word?), and lame pick-up lines that our team possesses in this  one-of-a-kind movie. My team, our team, the Wabash "Red-Pack" is my ultimate love. I think I can speak for everyone in saying that running for myself, but also each and every one of you, is something that I crave, nonstop. I did not make the 7th man varsity spot for our team this year. Although I'm disappointed in myself, I cannot stop thinking about the feeling I will have, watching my crazy fast teammates run. Seth, run your heart out, I know you will kill it. Hugh, you are going to have the race of your life, just stay close to Seth. Micah, Donovan, and Kevin, I'm so glad to see such a gnarly pack consisting of you three! I want to see you guys work together the whole race! Sam, DON'T pass those three, run with them. Finally, Grahm Daddy, you can hang on the whole race, just not the last 400! Think of your favorite song "Hey nightmare, where did you get them teeth?" and I promise you will have a heck of a finish! Don't worry guys, you will be great. We haven't done all of this hard work for nothing. Everybody is just starting to realize how big of a threat we are. They are truly scared of the guns. M.O.W.N.B.U.
A Season in Review: Anticipating Awesomeness for the Weekend and the Years to Come
Michael Richmond '11 --I’ve spent the last half-hour sitting at my desk, eating from a huge box of Junior Mints, slugging away at a gallon of water, listening to some Andrew Bird and retrospecting my first cross country season here at Wabash. I was thinking about all of the cool junk I’ve encountered so far—electrocardiograms, blood tests, new people, long races, difficult workouts, bad blisters, pre-race dinners at Bob Evans, one-night sojourns in Ohio hotels, poignant pep talks from Coach Johnson— and I got excited over the realization that I still have two more years of awesomeness to experience. I’m also pretty excited about refining my racing savoir-faire, developing my strength and endurance, and dropping some outrageous PR’s in races to come. While I regret not running my freshman year, I’m ridiculously happy I joined the team this year. And wow! The regional meet is this Saturday! Monon Bell? Ha! I’d much rather witness the domination of DePauw in a cross race than in a football game…though I do still care about the game, and I hope us runners can come home to a Wabash resounding with that lovely victory chant we know so well: DEPAUW TO HELL, WE’VE GOT THE BELL!
November 11, 2008
Leading up to Regionals!
Justin Allen '11 -- As the Great Lakes Regional fast approaches, the Wabash Cross Country team is delighted to experience a present 10 weeks in the making: a taper. The full extent of this taper was felt yesterday as I only ran 4 miles. 4 MILES! Yes, to the non runner that may seem like a fairly long distance, and even to the high school runner, what I was just two short years ago, that is a commonly run distance (in my program anyway). Rejoicing over this 4 mile run, the Donnelly Loop as it’s called, really made me realize just how far I have come since my high school days of running. From the short town runs, probably at 8:30 pace (who wore a watch anyway?), to the track workouts, after which I would feel completely exhausted, I now revel in the possibility of a 35 mile week. Yes, I have indeed improved as a runner, become more dedicated to training, more adept at listening to my body, and believing in my training. Most importantly I think I have become tougher; running more mileage will do that of course, but that only goes so far. As it is always said, there is a mental aspect to running, to performing well in races. This mental aspect can make or break a runner; it can decide whether or not I reach my potential. For me, I am constantly refining my mental toughness, trying to see just how much harder I can push my body. Improvement will only come with hard mental and physical effort. Now that my season is over I get another chance to build on my fitness and further refine my mental running ability in indoor and outdoor track. Yet I feel a void is left in my season, a hole in the perfect sophomore cross country season. The hole is the question that I sometimes ask myself: what did this season accomplish? why did I run? Why do I run? I have definitely improved physically, as evidence by my times, but there must be something more. This something more must be the mental aspect. There is no other explanation I have for why I keep running, day in day out, other than to improve over last season’s mental self, last year’s mental self, yesterday’s mental self. There is a certain acute finality to running, such as after a race, but at the same time there are almost limitless possibilities to what one I achieve as a runner. Who knows what I can achieve years, months, or even weeks from now. At the end of the season all you can do is sit back, relax a moment and catch your breath, then lace up them sneak’s and hit the road for bigger, better, and faster times are to come.
A Pondering Grahm!
Grahm Johnson '10 --  Hi all. I was procrastinating just a little bit more when I found my way on to the cross country blog, and found a photograph from Conference. Though this photo shows the team working together to demolish the competition, it also showcases the yearly cross country facial hair contest. We enjoy running hard and raising eyebrows more than most teams, but we also like to display our innate masculinity through our fearful facial hair. Each year the team selects an area or style of facial hair to be judged at the end of the season, and awards the champion with due respect and admiration. Sinister sideburns have been chosen this year, but mustaches and yeti beards have been favored in the past. In the photo from Sun to Snow one can see the developing fruits of this year’s competitors. Donavan White has safely secured himself last place, while Grahm, Justin, and Seth are all sprinting down the last 400 meters with Rogaine in hand. Who will win? No one can know for sure, but we do know that the Wabash cross country team is rockin out with style.
November 10, 2008
From Sun to Snow
Donavan White '12 -- 
I was chatting with Seth before our Sunday morning run about the drastic shifts in weather we've experienced this week. He mentioned that there was no in between temperature, just the extremes. It felt like we went from running in the late summer into running in the middle of winter. I am the type of person who likes in between. I can live with it being any where from fifty five degrees to sixty five degrees all year round. I hate running when it's extremely hot because I always feel like the sun is burning me alive and sapping all of my strength. I hate running when it is really cold because the cold numbs your body. One particular spot I can stand to have cold is my hands. I hate when my hands freeze because they just resonate pain and throb as they defrost. Lucky for me I have these big orange gloves that came in handy on Sunday's run. I can't foresee when I will you use them again because the weather will just continue to flip flop on us going from Miami to Alaska in a day's time. Man I hate Indiana weather.
November 06, 2008
"Student - Athlete"?
Seth Einterz '11 -- I was just browsing the Wabash website and saw that Public Affairs have posted a bunch of photo albums that capture some quotidian snapshots of our academic life:
http://www2.wabash.edu/blog/pa/2008/11/photographers_back_in_class.html
We are serious about our running, but we are also serious about our education, and these photos capture the great professor-student dynamics at Wabash. I especially suggest that you check out this picture from Dr. Madsen’s physics course:
http://www.wabash.edu/photo_album/home.cfm?photo_id=9557&photo_album_id=1800
As they say, a picture says a thousand words, and – as you gaze on this young man – a thousand words will undoubtedly spring to mind. Words like intelligent, studious, magnificent…
November 05, 2008
NOVEMBER 5TH, 2008!
Seth Einterz '11 -- Hey folks, just getting a blog off before rushing to Physics class.
The weather is gorgeous, the leaves have turned brilliant colors, and America has spoken. All in all, it feels like the cross country post-season and fast times. Speaking of America, did everyone catch Obama’s acceptance speech? If not, here’s an excerpt:
(APPLAUSE)
Tonight, tonight, I say to the people of Wabash College, to Phi Psi’s and Kappa Sigs and independents across this great campus: Enough. This moment...
(APPLAUSE)
This moment, this moment, this post-season is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, Coach Johnson’s promise alive.
Because in two weeks, in the Great Lakes Region, the same race that brought you national caliber teams like Calvin and Ohio Northern, the NCAA will ask the Midwest for four of the same teams as last year.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
And we are here -- we are here because we love this country too much to let the next National Championship look just like the last nine.
(APPLAUSE)
On November 15th, on November 15th, we must stand up and say: Nine is enough.
(APPLAUSE)
So, there you have it from the Next Commander in chief. We last made it to nationals in 1999. Nine years without a team going to Nationals is long enough. It’s time for change in 2008!
November 03, 2008
Transitions? Transitions!
Brian David '12 -- When I first arrived here at Wabash during the middle of August I was in for a treat. Moving from the busy streets of suburbs outside New York City to the cornfields of Crawfordsville, IN was a bit of a culture shock. However, Wabash is definitely worth the transition.
Wabash Cross Country is one of the reasons I chose Wabash. More than any other school I visited, I was able to see the way Coach Roger Busch cared about every one of his runners by the way he talked about them. I wanted to be part of a team that cared about one another and this year I was able to experience that.
At the beginning of the season we were ranked 6’th in our conference. Much of that was because we had a large inexperienced freshman class along with some upperclassman coming off injuries. From the start of camp, we knew we  were better than the 6’th place ranking we received. It motivated the team to work hard together and to not get broken, which correlates greatly to our motto this season: M.O.W. N.B.U.
We raced beautifully this weekend at Oberlin, breaking our preseason ranking of 6 ’th to finishing in 3’ rd place in the Conference. After seeing how good of a team we were, we realize that we have a legitimate shot at making Nationals. The team is steadily improving and I am really looking forward to cheering the team on at Otterbein where they can make it to Nationals.
Surface reflects on Wabash XC and the NCAC meet!
 Jacob Surface '11 -- As my hometown high school football team makes its way through the tournament season, I am reminded of how much it stunk to be stuck on the sidelines, cheering on my friends without being able to get into the action.
Yet another reason why I have come to love Wabash Cross Country. Last weekend was a blast as I sprinted around the course with my cheering partner Sam Prellwitz ‘10, screaming my head off to encourage the Redpack to push past the pain and “Drop the Hammer!”. It was so exciting to see guys like Milliman ’10, McCarthy ‘12 and White '12 run as a pack and pull each other through right up to the finish. Brian David ‘12 and Justin Allen ‘11 were also stride in stride for a good three miles. Way back at the start of the season, we were paired up with the slowest and fastest guys running together for a tempo loop at camp. The point of the run was to establish the norm that we will not leave one of our teammates behind, no matter how much difference there was in skill or ability. This kind of thinking began to pay off a couple of weeks ago in workouts and has rocketed the Redpack from a 6th place preseason NCAC ranking, to a 3rd place finish, going into regionals.
As on the race course, so back on campus. Not a weeknight goes by that I do not end up talking with Brian about something class-related at 11 PM in the library. Seth Einterz ’11 and I have undertaken leadership roles in the Wabash Acts Responsibly Council together, and I am currently sitting next to Colin Dunlap ’12 as we finish up our homework on a Monday afternoon in the library. It is a great feeling to be a part of something as exciting and fraternal as Wabash Cross Country has become for me. I can’t wait to cheer my brothers on as they make a run at regionals to be the first Wabash team representative at nationals in a long while.
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