Gaels Ready for Shot at National Crown

By Christopher Hunt

    There’s something different now. Iona College coach Mick Byrne could see it. He could see on their faces, in their attitudes. It wasn’t there before.

    Not like this.

    “I think what’s different this year from other years is that they all seem very relaxed,” Byrne said.

    That’s because for the first time in years, all the Iona men’s team has to worry about is the race. This time there’s no stress fractures or leg injuries. This time there’s no uncertainty about someone’s fitness level. They’re not worrying about whether someone is going to bounce back. This time it’s only the 10 kilometers that they’re concerned with as they prepare for the NCAA Division I Championships Monday at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind.

    “Everybody’s healthy,” Byrne said. “Thank God. I haven’t been able to say that in the past two, three years. I think that kind of boosted the morale of the guys.”

    Last year, when the Gaels finished third, Harbert Okuti ran with what turned out to be a stress fracture in his leg. Andrew Ledwith was running his first race of the season and Matthew Kipligat suffered a knee ligament strain and hadn’t competed for nearly a month and a half before nationals.

    They don’t have those complaints this time. Iona, ranked third nationally, won its third straight Northeast Regional title and 17th consecutive MAAC conference championship this season. They placed in the top 10 at nationals in each of the past five years, yet even with all the injuries and their top runner Mohamed Khadraoui sick on race day, the third-place finish was the highest in school history.

    Byrne said he his team can place three runners in the top 30 among the team scorers his team has a legitimate shot to win. Oregon is the top-ranked team in the country and defending national champ Colorado is ranked second. For years now, the runners at Iona have felt like they’ve been standing on the front porch of a national championship, then knocking on the door. Now they want to kick the door in.

    “This year, for me personally, this is the best team ever assembled at Iona College,” said Khadraoui, a junior from Paterson, N.J., who finished 23rd overall last year. “I live with these guys. I can see it in their eyes. I can see it in the way they train. … “Everyone’s on page. Everybody is healthy and ready to go. It’s going to be a massacre out there. It’s going to be an assassinating team battle.”
 
Byrne named Oregon, Colorado, Iona, Wisconsin and Northern Arizona all as contenders. Even Portland jumped into eighth in the national poll from 20th the week before.
    
Whenever you asked Byrne about the NCAA championships, his first response isn’t to go to the logistics of the race. He talks about the journey. Byrne says that it’s the pursuit that drives him — that drives his team. He talked to them Wednesday about what this race means, win or lose. It’s one race, for one day, for the rest of their lives.

    “We talked about how 10, 15, 20 years down the road they’ll look that this as a great experience in their lives,” Byrne said. “I want them to enjoy it. I want them to take it in. … I don’t think any of these guys are going out there with anything else in mind but we have a shot to go out there Monday and doing something special.”

    At this point the nerves have started to set in. Ledwith said he’s probably analyzed the race every way possible.

    “But once you get out there you don’t feel anything,” he said. “It just all goes away.”

    At least this time he has a season of training and competing behind him. But there’s a confidence that comes with knowing his team is ready. And for some reason, while they run through the street and the trails of New Rochelle and hidden Davenport Park, Ledwith said even with the tradition of greatness at Iona, they still feel like the kid brother.

    “I think every year when we go out there they always underestimate us,” he said. “I think it’s probably because we’re such a small school. Or maybe because we don’t bring in the big American recruits. It’s like, this year, maybe Iona could finish third. Maybe they could finish second. But I think we can do much better than that.”

    Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.