December Newsletter

U C D A V I S D I S T A N C E

UC Davis Distance: Fortitudine vincimus. 1

UC Davis Cross CountryNewsletter

UC Davis makes a return to Terre Haute with an individual men’s qualifier.

On November 22, redshirt-junior Jonathan Peterson marked the Aggies’ return to a national stage with milestone performance at the NCAA National Championship Meet. Toeing the line as one of the 37 individual qualifiers at the meet amongst the nations’ 31 top teams, Jon entered the meet with lofty aspirations and a level of physical and mental preparation to match.

Running without the customary support and accountability that come with representing in a team context, Jon set an ambitious but realistic goal of a top 40 finish, good enough to earn All-American honors. Still, coming off a 5th place regional finish, the simple math of top five from nine regions all running for spots drove home the reality of the goal.

Running in warmer than usual weather, but with winds gusting between 20-30 mph, the race unfolded in competitive, but somewhat

cautious, fashion. Aside from six men that made an early push, at 5k there were 65 men between 15:01 and 15:11, where Jon had patiently cemented himself. Three kilometers later, nine men raced off the front of the pack, which now consisted of only 28 that came through 8k together between 24:-- and 24:--. With a kilometer remaining Jon had crept to 18th place, and later recounted that he was thinking ‘Don’t let 22 guys pass you in the last K!’ In the races closing stage, Peterson made a final push, mounting a kick over the long, uphill finishing stretch to nab his 14th place position.

The Aggies first appearance at the national level following the DI transition came in 2008, when the women saw Kim Conley and Kaitlin Gregg qualify to race in Terre Haute. That fall the women’s team fell one spot, and mere points, short of securing an at-large berth, and with Peterson’s experience this fall the flames of desire for a return trip, both on the individual and team levels, have been stoked even higher.

Regional wrap upThe Men’s and Women’s squads finished their seasons at the NCAA Regional championships in Eugene, OR.

Page 2

Happy Holidays from Aggie Cross Country and Track & Field!

Alumni SpotlightSee where former UC Davis runner Nate Bowen’s path has led him since graduating in 1999.

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Athlete blogGet a glimpse inside the mind of a champion as Jon Peterson reflects on the mindset it took to become an All-American.

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UC Davis XC/Track & Field - February 2009 UC Davis XC/Track & Field - December 2010

Running news from Aggie Nation

Jon Peterson: All-American


2 UC Davis Distance: Fortitudine vincimus.

Aggie Cross Country and Track & Field Alumni Reunion

Friday, April 15thSave the date! This coming spring we will be holding the first alumni reunion, in conjunction

with Picnic Day and the Woody Wilson Open. Details will follow soon as specifics are established. We hope to see you there. Stay tuned for RSVP information...

!"##$%#&'()*&(%+%(,FRONTRUNNER $700 & UP

PACE SETTER $400 - $699PACK RUNNER $200- $399

HARRIER $100 - $199

ALL HARRIER CLUB MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE TeamAGGIE benefits plus these extra incentives:

BENEFITSCHART

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PAC

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PAC

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Monthly Newsletter

UC Davis Cross Country T-SHIRT

UC Davis Cross Country SWEATSHIRT

Autographed Team Photo

Complimentary invitation to post-season banquet

Fair Market Value of Benefits $10 $35 $35 $60

Name: Address: City: State: Zip Code: Phone: E-mail:

MARK YOUR DONATION LEVEL Frontrunner ($700 & UP) Pacesetter ($400-$699) Pack runner ($200-$399) Harrier ($100-$199)

Affiliation: Alum Parent Relative Friend

T-Shirt: XXL XL L M S (check one)Sweatshirt: XXL XL L M S (check one)

Decline all benefits

DIRECT MY DONATION TO: MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY - !"#$%&'

http://ica.ucdavis.edu/DEVP/giving/mcrosscountry_upay_form.php WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY - !"#$(&'

http://ica.ucdavis.edu/DEVP/giving/wcrosscountry_upay_form.php

PLEASE MAKE ALL CHECKS PAYABLE TO “UC REGENTS”DETACH MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION AND MAIL TO:

Kim ConleyUC Davis Cross Country

264 Hickey GymOne Shields Avenue

Davis, CA [email protected]

The 2010 Aggie Cross Country Season begins with our August report date and extends deep into November with our culminating, post-season competitions. The 2010 squads boast a blend of seasoned veterans and determined newcomers, with senior Jon Sees and junior Abbey Gallaher serving as our respective team captains. Jonathan Peterson returns as last year’s top Aggie finisher at both the conference and regional meets, while Sarah Sumpter looks to repeat as the Big West Champion on the women’s side.

After a summer of diligent preparation both teams will enter the competitive season with high goals. Striving to achieve our objectives would not be possible without the continued support of the UC Davis community, alumni, parents and boosters of the program. The Harrier Club provides you with the opportunity to donate directly to the program where the impact will be felt immediately.

The UC Davis Aggie Harrier Club offers several support levels and corresponding benefits. One of the points of pride in our program remains the strong and loyal base of alumni and friends. This fall we are aiming for “100 at 100” or 100 or more donors pledging at least $100. As the costs of running a competitive program continually rise, your contribution will be applied to initiatives that impact the lives of our student-athletes directly. Of particular importance are items like the Pt. Reyes pre-season trip, our post-season banquet, all team and senior awards/recognition and expanded competitive opportunities like the USATF XC Championships (hosted in San Diego in February 2011!).

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Support Aggie Nation!

The running tally now stands at 21% of the way to our goal of 100 donors at $100 or more through the Harriers Club program, while the funds themselves total 45% percent of our $10,000 target. Our first wave of donor benefits will be shipping soon, and even though the 2010 cross country campaign is officially in the books, we have already begun to plan for the 2011 season. We are toying with the idea of expanding Pt Reyes camp by a day in order to maximize the benefit, but we can’t do such things without first doing the financial legwork up front.

We hope that the Aggie Distance alum will make a show of force at the Cross Country and Track & Field Reunion coming up on April 15, 2011.

The Harrier Club PDF can be downloaded by cutting and pasting the following URL in your web browser:

http://www.teamaggie.com/downloads/Harriers-club-2010-11.pdf

You can also click the hyperlink icon on the UC Davis cross country homepage at www.ucdavisaggies.com to pledge online.

On November 13th Aggie nation’s distance crew toed the line at the University of Oregon’s home cross country course with a plan and a powerful sense of pride. During this special time of the year when an athlete’s mettle is tested, our Aggie men and women did not back down nor disappoint.

The women ran in the day’s first event and ended the championship season on a resounding note of positivity with their 15th place finish at the regional level. Senior Caitlin Fitzgerald led the Aggies and capped off her cross country career with a personal best time of 20:52 and a 33rd place finish on the wet cross country course at the Springfield Golf Club. Krista Drechsler, Alycia Cridebring, Abbey Gallaher and Sam Kearney rounded out the scoring quintet in a year that provided some of the strongest team depth when the final times and scores were tallied.

The boys in blue took to the course with a strong and calm mentality. Running with great confidence after their conference championship two weeks earlier, the Aggie men finished 9th with a score of 272 and earned their first top-ten team finish. The Aggies featured outstanding performances from top finisher and national qualifier Johnathan Peterson, with an 5th place finish, and Calvin Thigpen, with a strong 20th place finish. Their achievements earned them both recognition as members of the All-Region team. Jon Sees also notched a top-35 finish, while Axel Stanovsky and Fed Martinez filled the back door spot for the Aggies.

Both teams return a solid core of contributors and will aim to improve upon the 2010 season in the upcoming year.

Championship Season with Aggie Harriers Distance crew





http://www.ucdavisaggies.com




!

Nate BowenNate Bowen grew up in Santa Monica, CA. After four years at Crossroads High School, he joined the Aggie family in the fall of 1994. While at Davis he was a cross country all-american and captain of a team that won both the conference and regional titles in 1998.

What were your career highlights?

As far as my individual running is concerned my career highlight was going All-American for cross-country in 1997. I was 23rd place that year at Div II nationals in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I felt pretty lucky, there were a whole bunch of us that year who had the potential to do it. I guess everything clicked for me that day.

More importantly for me was that I was part of three teams that went to Div II nationals, earning a spot in 1995, 1997 and 1998. We were conference champs in each of those years. And in my last season, 1998, we won the West Regional. I think if I'm not mistaken that was the first of four West Regional titles for UCD. The fellas who came after me really stepped it up to the next level. I was also part of three conference champion track teams in 1997, 1998 and 1999. There is nothing better than being part of a winning team. It's no fun partying by yourself.

Did you continue running competitively after college?

After my time at Davis I joined the Nike Farm Team which was based out of Stanford. It was crazy. I was now teammates with guys that I had been reading about in Track and Field News: NCAA champions and Olympians. My running improved and I was able to qualify for and compete in the 2004 US Olympic Marathon Trials in Birmingham, Alabama. I finished right in the middle, 42nd place out of 84 entrants. I remember getting a call the night before the race from Jeff Kaiser (he holds the UCD 10k track record). He told me I had to go for it and run hard from the gun, that this might be my only chance. He was right about it being my only chance. That freezing February day in Alabama was the pinnacle of my running career.

What was your favorite moment while wearing an Aggie singlet?

It was the 1997 west regional meet for cross-country in Pomona. That year was supposed to be a "rebuilding" year. The men's team consisted of a bunch of rough and tumble, scrappy, indie-rocker look-alike wannabes. We had gotten killed, dead last at the Stanford Invite in September. What kept us from being terrible the rest of the year was that we were a team in every sense of the word. We cared about each other and we hated losing. Starting from absolute zero we slowly and deliberately began to improve. We went into the regional meet conference champs but only the top two teams in the

region would go to nationals. The race was a shoot-out from the start. I nailed down sixth place overall and turned around to watch a clutch of Ags finish in the top 15. That moment standing in the finish line chute knowing that we were going back to nationals was my proudest moment as an Aggie. There is a picture I have of the UCD men's and women's teams standing together after that race. Both teams have qualified for nationals. It is a picture of a group of young people who have done something special together. We were all friends and nothing else mattered in the world but that we were winners.

Where has your path taken you since your days in Davis?

I've been very fortunate. I have an awesome family. My wife Stephanie is a special-education teacher. She is obviously very patient, which is good if you have to be married to me. I have two little sons: Jude who is three and Everett who is one. Most of my running these days involves pushing a baby jogger around our town, Redwood City.

About six years ago I realized that even though it was fun to be a barely-national-class runner I had to find a way to pay the bills. And so for the last five years I have been a history teacher at a small school in San Jose called Apollo. I work with kids who have had trouble succeeding academically in the larger high schools. In many ways teaching at Apollo is like running. I have to put the work in every day. Some days are going to be tough. Some days are great. However, the important thing is to focus on the goal at hand which in this case is helping people graduate from high school. I try to build in my classes the same sense of camaraderie that I felt at Davis. I tell my kids every week: "we are a team, we need to support each other. If we do that, we will all succeed and reach our goals."

Final Thoughts:

The UC Davis cross-country and track & field teams of the late 1990s were a great scene. There were quality people on those teams, people that had a very important and positive impact on the person that I am today. The best thing I think I can say about those folks is that they were and continue to be real. There was no patience for fakers amongst that crowd. People were respected for being themselves. It also didn't hurt if you could run fast.

S E Q U O I A C L U B


Athlete Blog

Junior Jon Peterson describes his mindset in the months and moments leading up to the NCAA Championships.

A mild 66 degrees out and all my senses are alive with excitement. I take a second to feel the smothering wind flow over my sweats as I take in the sense of the field and the crowd so anxiously awaiting the start of the NCAA men's 10k race. Ten minutes until the gun goes off and I've already established that there is nothing more I can do but wait, for everything leading up to this has prepared me to do exactly as I had planned. The extra long warm up before ensures that my body is ready for the task while allowing me to stay relaxed and hold my composure. The race I am about to begin has already been won in my mind. The only thing I have left to do is take care of business as usual. I've never been more relaxed and composed, for every meet leading up to this final dance has been about two things: choice (or lack thereof) and patience.

This season has been a roller coaster of emotion for me, with a lot of eagerness leading up to each race, while trying to combat it by keeping a relaxed mindset. My goal was to step up to the line each time with a sense of tranquility. While in the past I usually approached each race with a sense of urgency, looking to take command of the field at the blast of the gun, this season was not about that. I had to maintain my composure, looking for specific points to take advantage of. And within a race, there is no one around to say "go now." Instead, it became instinctual. I could feed off of someone for a while, until my legs grew tiresome of a pace I would deem too lax. This would be the point at which my mind would completely phase shift, locking into a pace. Once I took advantage, I knew I was in complete control and would attain the goal that I had sought earlier. It was no longer a question to anyone. I was going to have it.

The second, and probably more important of the two components, was the absence of choice. The last decision I made in terms of my season took place before I even started my summer training. And that decision was that I would leave myself no option when it came to my training, racing, and lifestyle. Any plan B that I would have set up was instantly scrapped from my memory, as it simply distracted from plan A. A plan that wasn't my main motive was simply noise to me. It would have allowed for a safety net in the event that I didn't attain my goal, allowing me to settle. And once I had removed all other possibilities, everything became easy. It was simple. There was no getting around any aspect of training. With every day that my legs felt like lead, I made it my priority to put in the double that the training had called for. It didn't matter to me, because I gave myself no options. Choice was a luxury I no longer had. In a sense, this mentality was mirrored by the team as well. We gave ourselves an objective and stuck to it. We knew what had to be done. Our only task once the work was put in was to take care of that task out on the course. This mentality was extremely crucial for me when it came to the NCAA meet in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Once the gun went off, we immediately face a strong head wind for about a half mile. The success of my season up to this point is a distant memory. Nothing matters except what is happening right now. My goal: All American (top 40). Relying on my two foundations established earlier in the season, I must maintain contact with the lead pack while also keeping my composure. Within the first 5k loop, I tuck in behind the pack when the wind is too strong and move outside when the wind is at my back. Keeping a constant place around the mid-20s, I survive the first half of the course within my ability. As I turn towards the home stretch, I quickly move up to the back of the chase pack to help fight against the intense wind.

The second half would be unlike any other race I've ran all season. Though I didn't give myself any options, I would have to bleed the most on this course, as it was intended.

Within the second half of the race, I fought tooth and nail to not only maintain my position, but also eventually move up. Locking into a faster pace near the last 2k would have been the death of me. Instead, I couldn't allow myself to slow down. I had already secured a spot in the top twenty and continued to move up as bodies fell behind. Turning down the final stretch, I picked up one more to be at 14th. He moves one more time and I almost allow myself to let him have it. But that was never my plan, and I had only one choice: success. And while I didn't finish ahead of the entire field that day, nor even in the top ten, I did just what I had set out to do. I had left every ounce of myself on that course and had no regrets at any point during my season. The only outcome that was acceptable to me was success, and now that I have accomplished everything on my list, it's time to start a new list. Looking towards the future, this team raised the bar and now has a new norm. For every success that today brings elicits hunger for tomorrow's goals.

S E Q U O I A C L U B


Former Ags and Aggie supporters,We hope the holiday season brings with it time to celebrate, reflect and spend time with those important to you. Here in Davis we will be closing the book on our fall season Saturday, December 11 when we gather for our cross country banquet. A number of you would still recognize some of the elements of our banquet from your time here as an Aggie, and this fall we have placed a special emphasis on raising the athlete’s awareness of the legacy they leave here after they’re gone.

Thanks to all that have extended their support as a means of making the 2010 season one to remember. We look forward to the sharing the upcoming track season with you all. Happy Holidays!Drew Wartenburg

Head Cross Country/Assistant Track CoachUniversity of California, Davis

530-979-7017 (c)[email protected]

www.ucdavisaggies.com

2010 UC Davis Cross CountryDate Opponent Site/Result

Sept 4 Aggie Exhibition Men 1st, Women 1st

Sept 11 Sacramento State Hornet Jamboree Men 1st, Women 2nd

Sept 25 Stanford Invitational Men 7th, Women 7th

Oct 16 Bronco Invitational Men 3rd, Women 5th Oct 30 Big West Conference Championship Men 1st, Women 5th

Nov 6 Doc Adams Open Putah Creek Reserve

Nov 13 NCAA West Regional Men 9th, Women 15th

Nov 22 NCAA National Championships Jon Peterson - 14th place

2010 Cross Country StaffByron Talley - Director of Cross Country & Track and FieldDrew Wartenburg - Head Men’s and Women’s XCKim Conley - Assistant Men’s and Women’s XCSam Ahlbeck - Volunteer Assistant Men’s and Women’s XC

UC Davis Cross CountryUC Davis Intercollegiate Athletics264 Hickey GymOne Shields AveDavis, CA 95616

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



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