World XC 2011 Interviews Part III: Legends Craig Virgin, Thom Hunt, Greg Meyer, Ed Eyestone, Steve Plasencia, George Malley
By XCNation.com
March 8, 2011
Editor's Note :Part two of a four part series leading to the World Cross Country Championships to be held March 20, 2011 in Punta Umbria, Spain by XCNation.com reprinted with permission..
Part 1: Interviews with Andrew Bumbalough, Molly Huddle, Ammar Moussa, Hannah Valenzuela, Craig Lutz, and Blake Russell Before 2011 World XC
Part 2: Interviews with
Brent Vaughn, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, Erik Olson, Molly Grabill, Justin
Vilhauer, Ryan Poland, Scott Bauhs, Chris Barnicle and A Cuffe
Part 3: Legends Craig Virgin, Thom Hunt, Greg Meyer, Ed Eyestone, Steve Plasencia, George Malley
Part III: Defining the
Moment
World Cross Legends
Spotlight: Craig Virgin,
Thom Hunt, Greg Meyer, Ed Eyestone, Steve Plasencia,
George Malley
There is a defining moment in every persons life. Within that moment,
everything that that person is, shines its brightest.
In the moment of trial and perhaps despair, when all is lost or seems in vain the champions heart emerges. When faced with a decision to press on or give in the champions heart emerges. He chooses to be great and rises to the challenge, against all odds presses into the unknown, into greatness. To define his moment and let that moment inspire a generation.
cheers
for them. Cheer for yourself. Believe in yourself. You are Americans and this
is World Cross, the greatest distance running event in the World!
Craig Virgin World Cross
Country Champion 1980 & 1981
Arguably one of the greatest prep distance runner all-time
Virgin set the prep two-mile record of 8:40.9 to break Steve Prefontaines 8:41.5 and still holds the Illinois State
Meet Cross Country Record for 3-miles 13:50.6. Won nine
Big-10 Conference Championships. The 1975 NCAA Cross
Country Champion. Went on to set the American 10K record at 27:39.4 and
later ran the second fastest 10K all-time 27:29.16 in 1980. Finished
2nd in the 1981
He is brash, hyper-confident, determined and most of all he
wants to win. The drive for individual excellence led him from
In the 1978 World Cross Country Championships Craig Virgin
was a member of the finest collection of American distance runners to be
represented at the World Championships. In his first ever World Championships
Virgin finished 6th overall helping to lead Team
The world cross
country championships has been the only distance running championship for the
distance runner every year. To be able to have most of the world teams on the
starting line all in the same race is a fantastic opportunity for the sport,
the countries to the individual athletes, from the mile to the marathon the
best of the best were out there battling over 12k. I used my time in the 1978
race when we almost won to pic the brain of Bill
Rodgers. I wanted to know how to do well as Rodgers had finished 3rd
in the 1975 World Cross Country Championships. Guy Arbogast
got 5th and I got 6th and we were running with Englishman
Tony Simmons and the Scot Nat Muir. In that race it rained, snowed and hailed.
We were separated by five points from
In 1980, we had the
trials in
I was the team captain
in 1980, there were nine guys on the team and six to
score. We were used to wide boxes, in
I was directing the
guys back to the starting line and what happened next I will never forget. I
was lining the guys up and the guy shot the gun. There was no
marks, set or go or at least I never heard it. My own teammates ran over
me, some guy grabbed me and kept me from falling on my face. By the time
everything got sorted race I was in the back around 50th and I had
the moment of truth.
In the movie tin cup,
Kevin Costner, says that is what we call a defining moment. Either you define
the moment or the moment defines you. I had that moment in that race, I had to make a key decision. In that moment of truth,
the first cross roads of my career. I had no way to pass and I could not even see
the front runners as I was caught in a see of runners
filed five across and packed tightly as far as I could see. Part of me could
have given up at that moment and said just screw it, but I told myself I had
come 3000 miles to win. I kept telling myself I had 11k to go and a lot can
happen. I looked for every opportunity to work towards to the front. I felt
like a NASCAR car that got a flat tire and had to pit and start in last. I did
everything I could to create openings and react because there was no way to
pass. Most times I was fighting and clawing my way through guys looking for
every opportunity to move forward. When I saw it, I made a move.
I worked my way up and
with 2-laps to go I came up out of the pack and suddenly I saw the lead pack. I
see 4-5 guys running in the lead pack and about 50 meters in the front of them
I see Nick Rose. Nick Rose and I have history. We had been rivals in college,
he had beaten me in the NCAA Championships my sophomore year. I beat him my
junior year at the NCAA Championships. We had so many battles and I thought to
myself, ok, do I stay here in the safety of the lead pack or do I go out after
him and take a risk, I knew I would be possibly setting myself up to fail. Then
I thought, did I come 3000 miles to run for second or
to win? I decided to sling shot around the pack and go after Rose.
My goal was to catch
him with one-lap to go. I tried to set it up as I did in the 1975 NCAA Championships
when I ran on Rose shoulder and beat him in the final straightway. Approaching
the final lap as we approach the straight-away he is about 10 yards away from
me. We take one last jump and Rose looks back and saw me. Rose then looked turned
forward and took off and left me in his dust. I worked so hard to catch him and
when he took off I was just dead in the water. I was sucking wind and suddenly
3,4,5 were coming up on me. In that moment, I had another
defining moment of truth. I said to myself, do I bag it and give in? I thought
to myself I didnt come 3000 miles to run for second place. I forced myself to
recover on the run. I forced myself to stay with the pack when they caught me.
Over the next 1K I
fought through the pain and agony of dead legs and burning lungs. Then out of nowhere got a second wind. All of a sudden West German
Hans-Jurgen Orrthmann is on
my shoulder and
I had history with
Hans-Jurgen Orthmann. As a
senior I won the AAU junior 3-mile trials and qualified for three junior meets
across Europe with the first taking place in
With 600 yards to go,
I remembered I had purposefully practiced on that final straightaway. I knew
where to start my kick and I set up landmarks so I would know what distance I
was from the finish and when to begin my final sprint. I learned it was hand to
hand combat in the final kilometers of World Cross and I knew in the World Cross
you have to be ready for anything. Orthmann started
sprinting with 600 yards to go and I felt it was too soon, so I let him go. I
never let him get more than 10-15 yards away from me and I just hung on. We
both started gaining on Rose who was sucking gas with a tapped fuel tank. Rose
was so gutsy, I remember Orthmann comes to his
shoulder and Rose battles and holds him off for a time but then fatigue gets to
him. With 200 to go I made a gear change at my landmark. With 200 to go I
realize I am going to pass Rose, I look at the finish line and realize I may be
able to catch Orthmann. As I came up behind Orthmann I wanted to use the element of surprise, I knew if
I was going to pass I would blow the doors off. He looks left and I go right. I
didn't want him to see me and by the time he pivots around I have two steps on
him and I knew I had it.
The final 20-meters I
put my number one finger up in the air in celebration. I snatched victory from
the jaws of defeat in the final 200 meters. In my defining moment of truth I
did not give up. That is what separated me from getting 1st to me
getting 2nd or 3rd or 60th. Like Winston Churchill
says I never ever gave up. When things got dismal, bad and at times impossible
I put my head forward and made the decision to define the moment. I won!
I remember back in
1972, when I ran we had no Nike Cross or Foot Locker. I ran my state meet and
won setting a meet record which still stands to this day. We had no internet or
instant access to results. To judge myself against the best in the nation I waited until my
Track & Field News magazine came in the mail. I would sprint to the mailbox
and I would read what happened in the nation. My news was always 2-3 weeks old.
All I could do was attend the US AAU championships, the AAU was our national
governing body back then, I ran the 6-mile distance, I watched Frank Shorter
win the gold medal in September from Munich and in November I am on the same
starting line as he and the entire Florida track club. I ended up 12th
that day as a HS senior against Olympians. That was all I could do. I wanted to
win and I wanted to be the best at what I did in my sport.
(XC Nation) Tell me about what it meant for you to be a member of Team
(CV)
I have been an individual all my life, but my most prize moments were when I
was a member of team USA at the world championships. When I realized we got
second in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 I was ecstatic. I made that team
10-years. I wanted to win as an individual and win as a team. We got second
five times on the ten teams I ran on. To run against the best and represent my
country, we were proud to run for
(XC Nation) Do we have the talent to win?
(CV)
The guys who were gutsy enough to come to our trials
then paid the ultimate sacrifice to represent their nation. They didn't get paid, they gave up three pay checks to run in those trials.
The guys of today have no excuses. We always felt that when you ran in the
World Championships and you did well it was a catalyst to huge improvement as
an individual. The guys who ran on our teams are guys who made huge impacts in
our sport in their individual sports, Greg Meyer went on to win Boston, Mike
Roche was an Olympian in the Steeplechase, Randy Thomas, Bill Rodgers, Steve Plasencia, Don Clary, Duncan McDonald, John St. Clair, the
list goes on and on. The guys who ran World Cross went on to bigger and better
things both on the track and on the roads. To run World Cross you have to be
willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice but there is a reward and it is no
coincidence that the guys who run World Cross go onto success. Cross country is
a natural way of building strength. We had the talent to win back then and I
think that with only four scoring today we have a good shot to win today. I
think we are getting more talented, we have guys under 13-minutes,
under 27-minutes...we have the talent enough to be top three, talent enough to
compete. With only four scoring we off-set the depth of the
Kenyans and Ethiopians. The question is, why are
not more of our top American's running the World Championships.
One
issue is that the marathons wont let our guys run the world championships.
Salazar had great spring marathons and ran the world championships, Rob DeCastella did too, most of the African's do even today. I
don't see how World Cross affects marathons in April or track races in July. Its strength, base and endurance. I was with guys who did it
and they ran faster than the guys who aren't running world cross. I have often
thought, I would like to organize the national team
and find a national sponsor for a
(XC Nation) What do you feel will happen to the American distance
runner when we do win a World Cross Gold medal?
(CV)
Its the high water mark for our country. It can be
done. I am discouraged by this attitude either by the athletes, the agents or
the shoe companies that think cross country isn't important. I did and a hell
of a lot of guys in the 70's and 80's thought it was important. We did it for
free, didnt get paid but we thought it was so important we brought five second
places and third place back to America. I would like to say to our top guys, I
am a combination of amazed, aghast, and flabbergasted that you don't take world
cross seriously. If youre fit enough to finish in the top 30 at the world
championships you are then fit enough to kick butt in track. I am severely
disappointed that our top Americans do not prioritize world cross country. It
kills me that our top guys won't even come to the trials or come and decide not
to run, it is a terrible attitude to take. I think its
sad and I would love to debate Alberto Salazar personally on why his athletes
are running half marathons and not world cross. If you want to get publicity
for this country, field a team at the World Cross Country Championships that
can win.
Thom Hunt World Junior Cross
Country Champion 1977
The
second fastest prep mile all-time 4:02.7. Holds 7th
fastest prep 10k all-time 29:46.0. The current record
holder of the
He was a member of the only US
Junior Dream Team ever assembled. The 1976 Team USA Junior team was something
of lore and definitly legend. A
team consisting of Eric Hulst, Ralph Serna, Alberto
Salazar, and Don Moses. Moses, Hulst and Hunt has stormed through
(XC Nation) Share with us that memorable 1976 season in which you
finished 2nd at the World Cross Country Championships behind Eric Hulst and were a member of the Super-Junior Team.
(TH)
We had a super team, Rudy Chapa did not compete, but we were still a super
team. We knew from our trials race the team was outstanding. That year they had
the trials in
We
had this group, Alberto Salazar, Eric Hulst, Don
Moses, Marty Froelick and Ralph Serna. Eric
did what he does, he just put the hammer down. Most of the race Eric was in the
lead and I was chasing Eric. Eric had done the same thing at the trials, I had
a great competitive record against Eric our senior year. In
(XC Nation) Share with us that memorable 1977 season in which you won
the World Junior Cross Country Championships and led the Junior Team to another
team title.
(TH) I was a freshman at the
The
At
the World Cross Country Championships I was the aggressor. I was always in or
trying to lead. I wanted to run like the Africans did, any time I felt someone
softening up or the pace lagging I just kept pushing and surging trying to make
it as difficult as possible for everyone else. Eventually I broke everyone down
and opened a gap that no one could respond to. We had a close race, a great
team, not of the strength of the year before. I think the World Cross Country
race is one of the best races there is in running. I think cross country
running in general is a perfect place to learn to race. On track people worry
about splits and time but in cross you learn how to compete against other
runners. World Cross is an aggressive
race, you have to learn how to hurt, go out harder than your ready to and fight
for what you can. We won again and it was exciting to be individual champion.
(XC Nation) Why is World Cross Country important to American distance
running success?
(TH)
It is the only world team competition. It is the one event where all of the
best distance runners can compete in one place, in one race. Cross country is
still the best pure test of a distance runner. The four world cross country teams I competed
on were some of the most enjoyable experiences in my running career.
(XC Nation) Do we have the talent to win?
(TH)
It would take all of our best talent assembled together with some agreement to
make this a priority during the season, not just an afterthought. Even with
this, it would be a difficult challenge, needing some great races and maybe a
little luck. I am on the USAT&F XC council, I go there every year, I am
totally interested in seeing the top guys getting onto the same team.
Unfortunately, it will come down to the agents rather than the athletes to make
that agreement. We would like to see this and any encouragement and publicity
of this thing would be something we want to see, during my era we saw a strong
core group of runners who accomplished a lot of things. This current era is
rebuilding again to the level we had in the 70's, I think it is the coaches and
training and the way USAT&F is supporting those camps and things are
working. After 2012, the athletes can focus on putting this team together for a
run at the 2013 World Cross Country Championship. It would be one of those
opportunities to drive the type of excitement that motivates young runners to
be interested in further success in the sport.
Greg Meyer 1978 Team
The last American to win the
(XC Nation) Why is World Cross Country important to American distance running success?
(GM)
I think it is a barometer of our success. It may be old school thought, we took
pride in representing the
(XC Nation) Tell me about what it meant
for you to be a member of Team
(GM)
In 1978 we got the silver medal, we were a bunch of
young guys out of college, except for Bill Rodgers who had gotten 3rd
before in 1975. We really didn't have expectations other than we all were
hungry. We didn't know for a while that we had even medaled. After the race
people started telling us that we may have won. It took hours for them to tell
us we had finished second by less than 5 points. It was one of those days where
our guys ran well. It was where I met Bill Rodgers and we became great friends.
We all ended up in
(XC Nation) Do we have the talent to
win?
(GM)
I do! I think we have the talent if not to win to compete. Again, you put Hall,
Lagat, Solinsky, Ritz, Rupp...the
top guys on the team you had better bet the rest of the world would stop and
take notice.
(XC Nation) What do you feel will happen
to the American distance runner when we do win a World Cross Gold medal?
(GM)
I think it would help mobilize other Americans to realize they can compete on
the world stage. America can compete, the rest of the world takes it seriously
and yet we don't. Our kids are learning to run time trials and not how to race,
world cross country is about racing. When you get fit and your head is in the
right place, you will run fast. We can win, but will our top guys take it
seriously?
Steve Plasencia 1980 Team
A 4:12 miler out of Cooper HS, The University of Minnesota Head
Cross Country Coach, 5-time Collegiate All-American, Current holder of four
University of Minnesota distance records, US Olympian in 1988 and 1992 in the
10K, represented the US in 4-World Championships. Team member
on the 1980
(XC Nation) Why is World Cross Country important to American distance
running success?
(SP)
I was a track runner, it was my emphasis but I definitely felt that World Cross
was one of the most painful races to run. 12 km on uneven terrain and I just
knew that when you went to world cross you better be willing to feel pain. I
feel it is only going to help you down the road. The years I ran world cross
were breakthrough seasons for me. When I ran it was a very positive thing, I
respect the guys who are playing the game today but I do think that if you skip
world cross for a few thousand bucks it is a mistake.
(XC Nation) Tell me about what it meant for you to be a member of Team
(SP) I ran on 1980 and 1987 US World Cross
Country teams. The 1980 experience was my first time I put on a
(XC Nation) Do we have the talent to
win?
(SP)
I think we do have the talent to compete, we have great distance runners. I
would think if we got everyone out there it would be a great opportunity. My
hat is off to the American distance runners leading the resurgence to American
distance running. If they run it has to be a national imperative and a way the
governing body makes this important for the top guys to have the honor to
represent their country and be on a team that has a chance at winning the world
championship.
(XC Nation) What do you feel will happen to the American distance runner when
we do win a World Cross Gold medal?
(SP)
I think it would be a great thing for the kids coming up,
to get that back involved would be large because I think kids want to be a part
of something larger than themselves. There is a power in the pen, the internet
and winning would help the movement move forward. It would be nice to see our
best team fielded for a gold medal push. Hopefully the people who can make that
happen would want to help the runners be a part of that.
George
Member of 1972 US#4 DuVal HS XC Team, 3-time Collegiate All-American, Set the
US Steeplechase Record 8:22.5 in 1977 which was #6 in the World, Set the US 12K
Record, Set the US Half Marathon Record (1:01.43) in 1982. Team
member on the 1981
(XC Nation) Why is World Cross Country important to American distance
running success?
(GM) I dont really think that cross
country is important to American distance running success at all. But, if the
top Americans would get together and make a serious effort at it, and won, or
even came close to winning World XC it would be a huge morale booster, like
what followed the successes of Schul, Mills, Ryun,
Young, Wottle and Shorter. All of a sudden the
impossible becomes possible.
(XC Nation) Tell me about what it meant
for you to be a member of Team
(GM) First of all, cross country is the
starting point for most of our running careers. Its also the one time that
running becomes a team sport. In track its more like a three ring circus, with
everyone on the team doing their own thing, and often not aware of what your
teammates are doing. In cross country you are bonded together in training, and
also competing in the same event, against the same people. Ive been on a very
successful high school program, and a very successful college program, so the
step to World Cross is a natural progression. It is the pinnacle of cross
country running.
For me, personally, making the 1981 Team was a bittersweet affirmation of
sorts. It reminded me that my efforts will be rewarded if I keep patient and
kept my eye on the ball, so to speak. The downside is that I tore the plantar
fascia just two weeks before the Cross Country Trials, and had hoped that it
would get better by the time that Worlds came around. It
never it. The injury would become an insidious albatross that would hold
me down for the next 4 years.
The 1981 team bonded as well as any of my high school teams. Craig
Virgin, myself, Mark Nenow, Bruce Bickford, Dan
Dillon, Thom Hunt, Mike Maguire, Mark Muggleton and
Bill Donakowski. I think Thom Hunt found an arcade
a few blocks from our hotel, and each day in
(XC Nation) Do we have the talent to
win?
(GM) Yes we do, but all of our best
runners have to show up on game day. Hiding away in that cult-like atmosphere
in
(XC Nation) What do you feel will happen
to the American distance runner when we do win a World Cross Gold medal?
(GM) All hell will break out.
Ed Eyestone 1980 World
Junior Bronze Medalist
Current BYU Head Cross Country Coach, Placed 3rd at the
1980 World Junior Cross Country Championships leading the US Junior team to a
Silver medal, Member of the 1983 & 1984 World Cross Country Championships
Team USA Silver medalist teams, Member of the 1985 & 1986 World Cross
Country Championships Team USA Bronze medalist team, Two-time US Olympic
Marathoner (88 & 92), 10-time Collegiate All-American, Won the Collegiate
triple crown in 1984 winning cross country, 5000m and 10000m titles, Set the
NCAA 10k record in 1985 running 27:41.5. (Photo Courtesy Ed Eyestone)
(XC Nation) You finished 3rd in the World Junior race in 1980 with a
bronze medal leading team
(EE)
It was a fun experience, I went into my attic and found my IAAF medals the
other day and it brought back many good memories. I was on so many medalist
teams. It was my first international trip, it was a big deal. I was ecstatic, I was a freshman at BYU. I ran cross, indoor and
then made this team. I flew to
It
was a big deal because of the impending boycott of the Olympics, there was an
American (Me) and a Russian (Valeriy Gryaznov) on the awards podium. I remember when we were
running a German Shepherd was on the course and it
nipped the Russian Gryaznov in the leg and I ran hard
trying not to get bit. Our top three were very good and we were so happy. Our
expectation was to medal, we were so close to the Soviets and we were stoked to
medal and there was certainly some
(XC Nation) You were a team member on
the 1983 silver medal team, you finished 6th in 1984 on the Team USA silver
medaling team, after a team bronze in 1985, you were a member of the last USA
team to medal in 1986, what did it mean for you to be on those teams?
(EE)
I was still in college in all three of those teams, back then it was common the
top collegiate runners competed in the trials. I was a sophomore in 83 and
watched Salazar run, I remember coming up on Thom Hunt's shoulder and thought
what lap are we on. We got 2nd behind
In
84 it was our best shot at the Gold, we had such a good team, it was on our
home turf and we wanted to do well. It was an Olympic year,
Pat Porter was one of the best runners in the world. Virgin was back, John Easker, we thought we could stop the Ethiopians. Alberto
Salazar was originally supposed to show but had a personal matter that kept him
from running. It was in the Meadowlands in
(XC Nation) What happened to team
(EE)
I think priorities changed a bit. The rest of the world started showing up
after 1986. I loved cross country and it was natural for me and many of the
other great American runners to run cross country. I think as we got into the
later 80s and 90's people started realizing it was the toughest race in the
world. The commitment to be at the top began demanding so much of our guys and
I think some of our talented runners took money races and easier races that
were less demanding...ultimately our team became diluted. I tried to make a
push in the later 80's, I sent out letters to some of our better distance guys
to man-up, I tried to get them to see we needed to put the best team on the
line. The World Cross Country Championships is an event unlike any other, it is
taxing, difficult and I think our top runners just weren't willing to
sacrifice.
I
am the first to admit,
(XC Nation) What do you feel will happen
to the American distance runner when we do win a World Cross Gold medal?
(EE)
It would be interesting to see our best six on the line,
I think if we won it would be a shot in the arm. The coolest thing was and is
wearing Team
Part 1: Interviews with Andrew Bumbalough, Molly Huddle, Ammar Moussa, Hannah Valenzuela, Craig Lutz, and Blake Russell Before 2011 World XC
Part 2: Interviews with Brent Vaughn, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, Erik Olson, Molly Grabill, Justin Vilhauer, Ryan Poland, Scott Bauhs, Chris Barnicle and A Cuffe
Part 3: Legends Craig Virgin, Thom Hunt, Greg Meyer, Ed Eyestone, Steve Plasencia, George Malley
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