Perennially, the Boston University men’s and women’s cross country teams start out slower than a roommate’s shower. But, unlike many of the water pipes on campus, they tend to heat up as time goes on.
Then again, there’s always the chance for a clog.
Coming off a season in which both teams failed to win America East Conference titles – the men had won 10 of 15 titles, while the women had won seven in a row up to that point – the Terriers look to get the juices flowing a bit earlier when they join Northeastern University at Franklin Park at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Unfortunately, both the men and women will be feeling less Footjoy and more S-ahh-cany, as both teams’ top runners will most likely sit out for the season due to injuries.
For those who can run on the men’s side, the Terriers (who finished third in the America East last year) will find themselves planted firmly in the middle of the pack, according to head coach Bruce Lehane.
“It’s gonna be a tough season,” Lehane said. “We’ll take some shots.”
When they head to Franklin Park to race Northeastern and Manhattan College, the Terriers must take on the tremendous task of transitioning from their titan Teuton from Tubingen, Germany. Jochen Dieckfoss, who won four consecutive America East championships and placed as high as 44th nationally in his four years at BU, graduated last spring.
His points for the team, race-wise, were invaluable. But it was Dieckfoss’ ownership of the conference that paved the way, which appears to grow rockier by the day, for his teammates, Lehane said.
“Jochen, competing at a very high level, was money in the bank,” the coach said. “The guys knew he’d take care of business, so they just need to do their share.”
Dieckfoss’s departure, not to mention the departures of then-graduate students Jordan Jones and Carl Kinney, leaves the team aerodynamic. They’ve got more holes than an M. Night Shyamalan plot. And the only twist?
Dan Coval’s ankle.
The graduate student, who finished second on the team and sixth in the conference with a time of 25:28 in the championships, “was coming on well in the spring,” Lehane said.
Now, after wrenching the ankle, resulting in a broken bone in his foot, Coval stands – or sits – to miss the season.
“That was a real killer,” Lehane said. “I think we had a fighting chance until we lost Danny.”
The team, then, will look to its underclassmen to jump out from under their covers – many of them redshirts. Sophomore Mike Fisher, who ran a 26:06 in the race at the New England championships, and junior Phil Putis, who finished 52nd in the America East championships last year, lead the men into the teeth of the conference.
Unlike the women’s race, which stays at five kilometers from high school into college, the men’s race stretches to 10K, and doubling the distance can prove to be more than daunting to the undeveloped legs of a freshman.
“We’ll be starting a great adventure,” Lehane said. “Coming from high school, the men get slapped around, even if they’re very good.”
The women, on the other hand, have the luxury of working with the same distance they’ve known since they were high school freshmen, along with BU’s tradition of dropping fewer meets than a careful butcher.
So, after their tougher-to-stomach-than-the-$12.99-Twin-Lobster-Special-at-Victoria’s loss in the conference championships last year, the women spent the offseason with the understanding that when they drop their hearts on the course this year, it won’t be followed by tears.
“We’ve made good progress from last year,” Lehane said. “Some freshmen last year who we hoped to come in and help us did a good job. We didn’t have much from the upperclassmen. The athletes who return to us have made good developments over the last year, and the new athletes will complement them.
“They’re starting to see that there’s strength in numbers,” he continued. “The members of the team have done a pretty good job over the whole year to prepare themselves. The tide lifts together. As a whole group and individually, they’ve improved.”
When they take on Northeastern, Manhattan and the University of Rhode Island, they hope to one-up last year’s effort, when they tied the Huskies. But, even in the wake of last year’s late lapse, there’s no sense of urgency, said sophomore Marisa Ryan.
“We’re gonna try to start out a little stronger than last year, because we started out a little too weak,” she said. “We were so disappointed last year. So, we’ll definitely beat them this time.”
They’ll be without their top runner, junior Jess Ianacci, who will don the red shirt this season with a hip injury. But, the weight of the team need not rest on the fallen captain. If the Terriers had any more depth, they’d need a crew of lifeguards.
But fortunately for them, the runs have been longer. And more often. With more women.
“We meet as a team more often instead of doing runs individually,” Ryan said. “We’re training better because we’re training together.”
Now, it’s just a matter of letting the water flow, Lehane said.
“There’s some talent that hasn’t blossomed or come to fruition yet,” the coach said, “But, I think they will. The women who were hanging around and knocking on the door a bit, they’ll perform at a higher level as more mature and developed performers. We’ll miss Jess, but we have enough women to handle themselves well.”
And once that water rushes harder, it’s much harder to clog.
