Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Potato Bowl Saturday downtown here as they get ready for
the parade. So if you're making your way downtown, just
know that the five Oho six Pub will be ready
for you, opening at nine a m. And of course
they're going to be ready for you with Bloody Mary's
and Caesar's at happy hour prices coming up this Saturday
downtown Grand Forks. Oh, sorry about that. We're going to
(00:20):
get to head coach Tom Scott of U and D
cross Country in here. He did a press conference about
a week and a half ago where, you know, a
lot of times I'm so used to the coach clay
Are era where he was just kind of he wouldn't
he's a poker player, he wouldn't really tell you exactly.
And I'm just gonna move that just a little bit
(00:41):
right there, perfect for you, and you let a secret
be known that if everything falls right, you might have
a say in this whole thing by the end of
the season. You just really on the women's side, especially,
you mentioned during that press conference that this group might
have a little something special, and they certainly showed that
in the ron Pin Classic. By the way, you and
(01:03):
he won the ron Pin Classic. Both the men's and
women's divisions, So defending home turf, they'll be in more Head.
We'll talk to head coach Tom Scott. But you kind
of let it slip that you have just some feelings
right now about that group. They might be angling the
right way here to start the season.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean as we approach that this season, I'm
optimistic about it. We've got a fantastic group of girls
and guys on the team. And you know you mentioned
coach Clay kind of played poker games things like that.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, with with he wouldn't let me in on, Yeah,
things like that.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
You know, we I think we believe that if we're
going to accomplish what we want to accomplish, we've got
to say it out loud, right, and we like it.
We can't hide it, like that's that's the goal.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And so.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
There's a lot of talk that goes into it all,
you know, all summer long, and and we had a
team meeting yesterday where we had the guys team and
the girls team kind of split up and the girls
talked about their goals and the guys talked about what
their goals are and who they are as a group,
not only their goals, but like who are they like,
who are we as a as a team? What are
we trying to accomplish this year? And and you know,
we're more than just a cross country team. We're a
(02:10):
group of people that are trying to you know, help
each other through life and help each other through this,
you know, four years of college and just grow together
as a group. And so I think, you know that
sets the foundation to where you know we can accomplish,
you know, these these high goals that we have as
a team.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So Jade and Keeler, we know that she's available. She's
gonna run the cross country season. Obviously had a great
year in the indoor and the outdoor track and field
season as an All American. Incredible stuff to lead the line,
and she's a special runner. We know that we've been
very blessed. But then you bring in I think another
freshman from Canada, right, who's gonna maybe have an ability
(02:50):
to help help the line a little bit. And and
and maybe a couple of other freshmen, another freshman in there,
so you maybe even have some youngsters to join with,
maybe some veteran players or right, I should say in
the women's side that they kind of makeing in Christine Mesh. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, So we've got two very special freshmen who came
in this year. Catherine Rogers. He's from moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
She's one of the best best runners out of Canada. Wow,
sixteen forty eight is her five KPB, which is significantly
faster than what Jaden's PB was out of high school.
And you kind of see where she's at now. And
(03:25):
then we've got another freshman who who is coming in
from Denmark.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Her name is Marie.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And she's in fact faster than Katie from Saskatchewan.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So it's it's a fantastic group.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And then we add into the mix Shawe Johnson who
transferred from Texas A and m who's faster than both
of those girls. So she's run sixteen twenty in the
five k. So we've got a really strong group of
seven to ten girls on the on the squad.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And you say depth, if you're gonna win a team championship,
if you're gonna have a say in this, depth is
gonna because you would five count.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Five to five score. So we've got to have five
solid girls.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You can have four solid girls, but if if you
know five and six, don't step up, you're not gonna win, right,
It's kind of like a you know, basketball game. You
gotta have five solid starters. Yeah, so you know that's
that's the name of the game. And you know, we've
got a lot of depth. So hopefully our six and
seven can kind of step up and push our our
top five to be even faster.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And so yeah, it's it's gonna be exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, I guess in these early training runs where they
run together and they you know, they begin to understand
what each is capable of throughout a training run. Has
there already been some you know, eyes opened a little
wider of like kind of what is expected and available
and what gears are available to some of them.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, So even even today, like today we did a
little race sim type workout and it was the first
time I got to watch Marie, Katie and Shauaii Yeah,
will work out together.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
And so they're still kind of learning each other out.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
They're taking turns leading reps and trying to figure out
pacing and and things like that. So they're they're in
the midst of building that relationship and that's the goal, right,
they need to build strong a strong relationship with each other.
Where they trust each other that way in races, when
they're racing together and maybe they start to feel the hurt,
feel the pain a little bit, they can kind of
talk each other through it and help each other out.
(05:24):
And so we're we're in the beginning of that. We've
got nine weeks till the conference championship. So every week
we're gonna get a little bit stronger, develop those relationships
a little bit deeper, and be ready to rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Let me ask you this is maybe a technical question
that I have no concept of, but I'll just relay
becaus I like, you know, the Kentucky Derby, So I'll
talk about horse racing. So some horses are known as
pace setters. They're probably gonna drop off as they round
that final turn. They like to be close to the
front or lead, but maybe don't have the distance right.
(05:55):
Then you have your stockers that will just kind of
tuck in behind those pace setters, and a lot of
times they're good for the Kentucky deor because they're close
enough but they're not expending. And then they got the
great kick, and then you got your deep closers. They
got to go from a long way. Are there runners
men or women that are really just good right out
of the gates, want to get to the front and
(06:16):
just I mean, can kind of be in the clean air,
so to speak of using a Formula one term. But
or are there ones that are just kickers and you
just have they're just waiting to kick in the final
kilometer basically have a run. Do you have a mix
of those or there are certain ones that thrive in
that situation. Do you try to work on a final kick?
I mean, those are a lot of questions.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I just threw it.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, we definitely work on all of it. Yeah, so
I in a perfect world, we get out in the front. Yeah,
you just hold the lead and we don't have to kick.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Because we're so far up front.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
But in today's workout, for example, we took our first
one k one kilometer of the workout, we made it
really fast, kind of practice getting out hard in a race,
and then we kind of slowed the paces down a
little bit, settled in, and then the last one k
of the race or the one kay of the workout,
we made it really fast to kind of practice closing
and kicking in and knowing what it feels like to
try to run fast. On tired legs and so.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So that's not a crazy question, right, Okay.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
We work on everything, right.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
We work on getting out fast so we can establish
position and be up at the front in the beginning
and not have to worry about all the craziness going
on in the middle of the race.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And then we.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Also practice closing hard, yeah, so that you know, if
if there are some runners in front of us at
the end of the conference championship, we've done it in practice.
We know what to do and we can kick it
in and close and cause it could be it could
come very well, come down to one or two points.
And so if you know, you pass one person down
the finish line, that's a two point swing, right, So it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Can make a huge difference in the overall standings when
we get to the conference championships. That you're building a
season to the some of league championships, which would be
in early November.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
And where's it held this year. It's in Omaha.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
In Omaha, Okay, so it might be a little warmer.
Well that's maybe November, you never know. We've talked about
the women's roster. I think your men were in the
preseason predictions to be right, in the mix as well,
I mean the third. Yeah, so tell us a little
bit about the men's program and and kind of where
they're at in regards to how their their makeup is
is on the roster this year.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, the guys group is a special group as well.
We actually we we lost one person from our roster
from a year ago, right, and so we're also still
pretty young. We've got one senior on the on the
the guy's roster. We bring back mattde who's our school
record holder in the five k. He broke that last
year as a freshman, ran fourteen flat for five K,
(08:37):
so he'll he'll likely be our number one. And then
he's from the Czech republics yeh, from the Czech Republic.
And we've actually gotten in touch with one of our goaltenders.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Who's really the Czech Republic as well.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
So but yeah, and then we've we bring back Ian
Bush who had a fantastic season last year. He's from Hazen,
North Dakota, so uh, and you know Alexa Milanovich who's
from and then we brought him two new freshmen this year,
Jack Turnbull and Owen Chapman. Jack's was one of the
(09:08):
best cross country and milers from Indiana Wow and Owen
Chapman is Uh got second at the state championships in
Minnesota in cross country, So you know, I'm I think
the guys team that can be very, very good this year.
I think it will be a stretch maybe to win it.
I'm not saying it's impossible, but like we've got a really,
really good chance, but there's a lot of growth that
(09:29):
needs to happen between now and November.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
First well, having spent a little time in central North
Dakota Ian being from Hazen, they always have had just
tough minded individuals in central North Dakota from that area
in those communities, and not surprised that he's one of
those guys that you can factor and couning on and
running tough each time out.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Basically he's one of the toughest, toughest kids you'll meet.
He's he's very North Dakota and I think he would
describe himself as he loves.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Three things, hunting, fishing, and running. Okay, but he.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Also like he'll he'll run through a brick wall, like, yeah,
he won't tell me if someth's hurting or bugging him.
He'll just he'll just keep running until I'm like, in uh,
you're here limping.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
What was wrong?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Okay He's like, oh, I'm fine, nothing's wrong with me. Yeah,
that's that's just he's a great kid and we love him.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well, it's a great roster coming up ahead here, and
again you've got the the Greac coming up down in
the Twin Cities, where that will give you a pretty
good idea with some really good teams usually in an
event like that. But the Morehead one is kind of
a fun one. And again another let's let's better ourselves
and really get into our season here. But that's a
(10:42):
cool one because what that's a Friday night under the
lights down and Morehead correct.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yep, yep, So the team is really excited. We we went
to it last year and it was a lot of fun.
The women's races at eight ten and the men's races
at eight forty and we kind of run around their
track and then also around like their soccer fields and
and football fields that all has lights.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So yes, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
But yeah that the real test is going to be
on September nineteenth, when we go down to the u
of M and compete down there and there's gonna be
a lot of nationally ranked and regionally ranked teams, and
our women are currently ranked ninth in the Midwest region,
which is our best ever ranking ever. Awesome, So we're
really excited about that and we'll kind of see how
where we stand. Right It's it's one thing to have
(11:24):
a preseason rank, it's another thing to keep it, keep
it going throughout the season.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Well, I'm glad that you're excited. I'm glad that you
know you're having these conversations and making it real and
not being afraid of it. I just think that it's
an exciting time for some tremendous runners at the University
of North Dakota. We saw Track and Fields finish to
the year and the throwing, and we saw Jayden's finish
of the year in the ten k running and the distances,
(11:50):
and you know what a great story stories those were
to follow. And now that we get to kind of
just jump right into it in the fall on the
cross country courses, let's just continue to have some great successes.
We look forward to following those storylines throughout the autumn season.
So Coach Tom Scott, thanks for dropping by, and good
(12:10):
luck here as you head down to Morehead on Friday night.
Appreciate your time here.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
All right, Tom Scott, everybody, you and D cross Country.
It's an emerging story here with those two programs. The
men and the women expected to be right in the
mix of things throughout the season here, and we're looking
forward to following them and tracking them all season long.
We're gonna take another break. We're gonna go to the
court because you and D volleyballers were in action at home.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
They learned some things.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
We're gonna talk about what they learned with head coach
Jesse Tupac when he joins us around the corner as
we continue from the five oh six Pub downtown Grand Forks,
that's inside Hugo's Pure Market. This is hot doc and
you're listening all across the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.