ONE DOWN YEAR MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
FOR NATIONALS-BOUND DANA
Men's cross country team had
to overcome injury,
cancer and horrible season to come back
The 2001 Dana College men’s cross country team
had not performed to their usual high standard, and it was causing
problems for the 2002 team.
In 2000, they finished sixth in the nation, a ranking
they had become accustomed to over the last decade. In 2001, they
finished seventh in their conference and failed to make it to the
national competition.
So it was natural for the cross country powers-that-be
to discount this year’s team. On paper, it was pretty close
to the 2001 squad. But in spirit, it was completely different. Now
after a year of struggling against the specter of last year’s
performance, the 2002 Dana cross country team will have it’s
chance to prove it is once again a national contender at the NAIA
National Championships, Nov. 23 in Kenosha, Wis.
Because of the 2001 team’s finish, Dana’s
berth at the national championships was in doubt all the way up
to the regional competition, held Nov. 9 in Lincoln, Neb.
Head Coach Jay Birmingham chose not to focus on the
lack of respect the team was getting, and instead stuck with what
has always worked for him: putting running and competition in perspective
and emphasizing improving personal performance.
“We’ve really been coming on strong through
the whole month of October,” Birmingham said. “We’ve
focused a lot on peaking on Nov. 23.”
Dana’s harriers feel they have something to
prove.
Senior Derek Fey (Omaha) has consistently been Dana’s
frontrunner since his arrival. He missed all of last season with
a knee injury. He came to every practice, and in between his cortisone
and steroid injections, would even try to run.
“It was a really disappointing year,”
Fey said.
He kept pushing himself to get healthy enough to race,
but never could make it. Wanting to get something out of the year,
he entered the junior varsity race at the GPAC-conference championships.
If he ran a fast enough time, he could garner Academic All-American
honors.
“I jumped in to see how it felt,” Fey
said. “It wasn’t good.”
Before his knee injury, Fey set the Dana course record. In that
JV race, he finished third to last.
It was dispiriting to say the least. But Fey was convinced
he could come back in 2002, and he took much of his inspiration
from teammate Ian Latella (junior, Red Oak, Iowa).
Latella was a member of Dana’s national qualifying
team in 2000. He followed up his cross country season with great
track performances in the marathon and steeplechase. Everything
for Latella was going great, until he found a lump in his testicle
a week after competing in the NAIA Track Nationals.
Over the summer Latella had surgery to remove the
cancerous testicle and started chemotherapy. He missed the first
week of classes at Dana that fall, as well as every third week for
treatments. But he still came to every practice he could and ran
despite his red shirt status.
Latella was frustrated with himself as his fitness
declined. A national marathon competitor, Latella could not remember
a time when he couldn’t run 15 miles without difficulty. By
the team he finished chemotherapy late in the season, he could only
run less than a mile.
Facing his own frailty and even mortality wasn’t the worst
for Latella. It was watching his team fall apart and knowing he
couldn’t contribute.
“It made me realize how important running really
is,” Latella said. “It was so hard watching everybody
else run and not being able to help the team.”
The team’s concern about Latella’s health
only added more stress to the season. But Fey said it was also the
only glimmer of hope he saw.
“Everyone saw that Ian was fighting back,”
he said. “If that hadn’t happened, last year’s
team would’ve been a complete loss.”
Latella won the fight. Now in remission, with no sign
of recurrence, Latella has come completely back, even surpassing
his pre-cancer times.
“Ian’s example has been an inspiration
to the team,” Coach Birmingham said. “I think we all
appreciate that we almost lost him.”
Fey is back stronger than ever, as well, after having surgery on
his knee last year and sitting out the spring track season to recuperate.
But he doesn’t believe the change from last season is only
a matter of wellness.
“It’s not just health,” he said.
“It’s the idea that we all have a sense individually
of what we need to do to help the team. It’s a definite sense
of team that was missing last year. No one wants to be the guy who
keeps us from meeting our goals.”
Even with outstanding team performances that were
much better than 2000’s ranked team, Dana was unable to get
the attention of the decision-makers in the NAIA, which is necessary
to get a spot at nationals. Only a strong third-place finish at
regional competition (which included two of the best teams in the
country), and some luck would enable them to earn an at-large berth.
It’s exactly what they got, led by Fey’s
third-place finish at 26:05. But they still aren’t satisfied.
Everyone on the team knows this year’s squad is better than
the 2000 team, which placed sixth overall. So merely showing up
for nationals won’t be enough.
“We’re going for the Top 10,” Fey
said. “But we know we can do better than (Dana’s 2000)
sixth-place team, so we’d like to be in the Top 5. Anything
below a tenth place finish would be a disappointment. We know we
deserve to be there. It’s just a matter of convincing others.”
A high finish would also help finally put the 2001 season completely
behind them.
“That team last year almost killed our shot
at nationals,” Fey said. “We’d all like to forget
it even happened.”
The team has set high goals for the national’s
race, with several members hoping to shave 30 seconds off their
regional times.
Dana College is a private, liberal arts institution that currently
enrolls approximately 600 students. The campus is located on 150
acres overlooking the Missouri River Valley in Blair, Neb. Dana
grants bachelor’s degrees in more than 20 liberal arts, business,
education and pre-professional programs, with an emphasis on personalized
teaching from experienced and dedicated faculty. Dana is a college
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and its athletic
teams compete in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.
More information on Dana College can be found on its
web site, www.dana.edu.
— END —
For more information contact:
Sarah Cavanah
Communications Coordinator
Dana College
(402) 426-7216
scavanah@fs1.dana.edu
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