The Observer, November 18, 2005
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11
Cross Country: Erb and Hrinda qualify for national meet
The men's and women's cross country teams fell short of advancing to the National Championship, but each squad will send an individual to nationals this weekend. Esther Erb and Stephen Hrinda will each represent Case after finishing sixth and ninth, respectively.
The women missed out on the last of the three bids to nationals by a margin of five points. Paced by Erb's sixth place, three of the other four scoring teammates finished in the top 50, with the fifth at 51, resulting in a fourth place standing out of 31 schools.
The men did not fall so narrowly short, but still finished well, coming in 11th out of 34 teams. Hrinda was supported by freshman Dominic Smith, who placed 41st. All five men finished in the top 100.
Though Erb was disappointed in the near miss, she remains upbeat about her upcoming race, aiming for top 20 while also acknowledging that times will be slow due to the "hellishly hilly course" and a miserable weather forecast.
Hrinda expressed relief at achieving his season-long goal of qualifying for nationals in addition to satisfaction at running his fastest 8k race by nearly 40 seconds. He sights top 35 as his goal at nationals but also looks to enjoy his final race against other seniors from both Ohio and the UAA in addition to reveling in his second national race.
When looking at the path that each runner took to reach this premier race, Erb's rise to nationals is an amazing feat considering this is only her second true season of cross country in her career (she did not run during high school). Her running skills have grown considerably since last year.
"Her first season was not very stellar, but with persistence and hard work, she turned it around," said coach Kathy Lanese. "I give most of the credit to her. If everyone could emulate what she's done, our team could win nationals. She's just a phenomenal individual."
The road to nationals was not easy for Hrinda, either, as he took last year off and struggled to find the right training balance.
"He has always been a top five kid," Lanese said. "He was a little more accomplished in high school than the majority of our runners. He often works too hard to his detriment, but he has finally found the right balance for his training. He's found the right formula to make him successful, and this was the year."
Lanese believes that Hrinda will be primed and ready for the biggest race of his career.
"This is the race that he's been training for his whole life," explained Lanese. "He has a tremendous work ethic and has raced against terrific competition all year long. He's not the type of kid that will give up. Unless something happens, he'll finish All-American (top 35 out of 224)."
In the regional race last weekend, he was ninth out of a similar number of runners. Therefore, finishing All-American is definitely not out of the realm of possibility.
Lanese believes that the rest of the team members have great potential, and that it is possible for both teams to qualify for nationals next season.
"The women's team is only going to lose a couple key runners," she said. "We're also going to get back our number one and number five runners from the previous year. We're well on our way toward getting a full women's team at nationals."
The men's team was not quite as strong as the women's team was this year, but the potential is there for the men's team to make a run at nationals next year as well.
"We have a phenomenal class of freshmen this year that could potentially follow in the footsteps of Stephen," Lanese said. "I always try to dream big and think logically, but even with this approach, it is still very possible for both teams to get to nationals."
