Nov 25, 2008
Nick Cordes - NCAA Div II National Meet Views- 1978

Nick Cordes is a contributer to Runmichigan.com and is also the men's distance coach at Ashland University. In addition, Nick used to train with the Hanson/Brooks team out of Rochester Hills. Nick's men's team made the NCAA Division II national cross country meet that was held this past weekend in Slippery Rock, PA. AU entered the meet as the 21st ranked team nationally and ended up placing that same ranking at the national meet. Read on to find out more about Nick's thoughts on the season, meet and future of AU distance running.


RMDC: How do you think the cold day and snow covered course helped or hurt your team?

NC: I don’t think the course or weather had an effect either way with our team, other than not getting us down. We are used to seeing that type of weather, so nothing new there.

RMDC: How exciting was it as both an Ashland XC Alumni and the Head Men's XC Coach to bring Ashland back to the NCAA D2 XC Championships for the first time since 2000?

NC: Honestly, I haven’t thought about it in those terms. I was really excited for the guys to be there. It had been 8 years since the last time and hopefully it will be the start to many more to come. Ashland has a strong tradition and I would like to build on that and take it to a new level.

RMDC: What kind of training did you have the team do to get ready for the Championship race knowing the weather probably would be similar to your regional meet at Ferris two weeks ago?

NC: There wasn’t much that we really changed from regionals. We unloaded our training a bit for regionals and for the most part, just maintained that till nationals. The weather played no effect on our physical preparation. We did talk about the various different weather conditions that could show up race day to prepare mentally for it.

RMDC: How do you feel about your team's performance at the NCAA D2 Cross Country Championships?

NC: Our team performance was average at best. That is not to say that our guys didn’t run 100% - they just didn’t have it. We had to get through the regional meet to make nationals and that required us to lay off the training a bit. That backing off of our training 3 ½ weeks out from nationals left our guys a bit flat. It would have been great had we been able to train normal through the region meet but we knew it would be close to us making the national meet. In addition, our 2nd and 3rd men from the regional meet ended up as our 6th and 7th runners at nationals. Neither of those two were good enough to run at the high school state xc championships. They were a bit overwhelmed – that won’t happen in the future.

RMDC: What do you take out of the NCAA D2 Cross Country Championships that will help your team during the indoor and outdoor track season?

NC: The guys bust their butts, run hard, and are extremely coachable. After the national meet, many of the guys were looking towards redeeming themselves. Our guys want to bang heads with the best. My goal is to put them in that position.


RMDC: How does qualifying a team for the NCAA D2 Cross Country Championships help you recruit runners to run for Ashland University?

NC: I don’t really know for sure but I can get back to you on that one down the road. This year really wasn’t much different then the past 2 years. Our team made very good strides both those year but we ended up just falling short, 16 points out 2 years ago and 1 place out last year.

The obvious answer is that making nationals gives a bit more credibility to the program. The biggest thing that should help us recruit is the improvements our guys have made since high school and the team atmosphere, in addition to Ashland University being a great school.


RMDC: Any additional comments on the weather, the other GLIAC schools and your overall thoughts about the NCAA D2 XC Championships at Slippery Rock?

NC: The GLIAC is tough, as is our region. I don’t see the GLIAC getting any weaker, nor do I see that for the region. GVSU has set the bar high and we look forward to seeing if we can reach it and push it higher.

The NCAA Championships at Slippery Rock were well done. The course was ready to go and the whole setup was first class. The competition level of Div II continues to get better each year. It is great to be part of Division II cross country and track.

RMDC: Overall how will you remember the 2008 Cross Country season and your trip to the NCAA D2 XC Championships?

NC: I hope to look back on the 2008 XC season as the year that jumped started our program to a new level. During the season we saw two sophomores who were 16:40 high school xc runners, step up and help our team qualify to the national meet.

I will look back on the 2008 NCAA Meet as the trip were 4 seniors made 180 degree changes in their attitudes and training from when they were freshmen. They stepped up and became real leaders, helping set the tone for everyone else to follow.