The Daily Free Press - Sports

Issue: 09/11/03

Cross country sprints into action this weekend

By Kevin Scheitrum

They say youth is wasted on the young. Boston University cross country coach Bruce Lehane hopes the same isn’t the case with running.

Lehane needs his young Terrier pups to get experience quickly this year, with both the men’s and women’s teams having holes to fill. The men will run behind three established runners, with the four through six holes open for the taking, while the women lean on only one senior.

The male Terriers will be following the lead of a German shepherd. Senior co-captain Jochen Dieckfoss — of Tubrigen, Germany — is out for blood this year. Dieckfoss was named team Most Valuable Player for the last three years, while winning the America East title each season and finishing 44th at the NCAA championships last fall.

“I see him continuing to lead,” Lehane said. “He came over [from Germany] as a blue-chip athlete, and it’s played out that way.”

Also running in front for the men is fifth-year senior Jordan Jones. Now a co-captain, Jones found his stride during college. If Dieckfoss was a blue-chip recruit, Jones was playing at the kiddy casino.

A walk-on from Medford, Mass., Jones “really didn’t do that much in high school,” Lehane said. But since then, Jones has earned his spot next to Dieckfoss pulling the sled for the Terriers.

“He’s an extremely hard-working guy,” Lehane said. “He really turned himself into a good runner.”

Jones said he is readily willing to accept his leading role, and expects to work well in tandem with Dieckfoss. But he admitted that he and Dieckfoss cannot carry the team themselves, and will need to have their younger runners step up and fill holes.

“We have a load of freshmen,” Jones said. “Hopefully a couple of them will run well. There are a lot of walk-ons this year, so hopefully I can lead them to work the way I worked through my four years.”

Lehane, who has coached at BU since 1982 — before most of his runners were born — and a father of three sons, knows he has to rock the cradle a little faster this year than in years past. Most freshmen don’t realize the change in intensity from high school to college until they gain experience, he said.

“Younger guys don’t have a clear picture of what’s ahead,” Lehane said. “We run farther, but at the same time, we also run faster. What did the job at the high school level quite nicely doesn’t really cut it at the college level.”

As much as he says he needs to have freshmen step up, he’s careful to note that he can’t push them too far.

“It’s tough for a 17- or 18-year-old to go against a 22-year-old,” he said. “Sometimes people break the rules, so that’s something we need to try to make happen. But you can’t force it overly, because the kid will break if you force him past his capabilities.”

The young team will face stiff competition from last year’s America East Champion University of New Hampshire, which returns all of last year’s team except for Dieckfoss’ old rival, Dan Hocking. The Wildcats have won the America East title three times in the past four years, after the Terriers “owned it for quite a while,” according to Lehane. Also, the team will meet what could be the sleeper team of the year this Friday at Franklin Park — the University at Albany.

“They’re the next-best team,” Lehane said. “[Because they are] a state school from New York, they bring in a lot of people. They might get very hot.”

Speaking of teams on fire, the women have won the last seven America East Championships. But this year, the Terriers need their youth even more than their male counterparts, after losing a few pivotal seniors. Captained by sophomore Jess Iannacci, this year’s team boasts only one senior — New Zealand native Julia Nazzer — and three juniors. Despite their age, Lehane says he expects the team to make a run for their eighth straight title, behind Iannacci and junior Dina Mijuskovic.

But the younger runners should have less of a challenge than the males in stepping right in, Lehane said. The distance — 5 kilometers — is three kilometers shorter than that of the men, which allows for a smoother transition into college running for women.

“Being a freshmen isn’t as much of a handicap [for women],” Lehane said. “The race distance is virtually the same as high school.”

The swift transition will cater to the influx of talented new freshman, he said.

“The freshmen need to step up,” Lehane said. “Marissa Ryan was a five-minute miler, Abby Sadowski ran a five [minute mile] in high school and Anne Wighton was a great runner in high school. I think these three young athletes will be critical.”

Iannacci is confident that the team will do well. A strong sense of team and Lehane’s coaching style should help the younger runners thrive.

“We’re working on being more cohesive,” she said. “We’re getting together a lot more and having more practices together. I think that’ll help us out a lot. We expect a lot from our freshmen, but Bruce doesn’t put a lot of pressure on us.”