Boston College Athletics
2001 Men's Cross Country Outlook
August 01, 2001 | Men's Track & Field
Aug. 1, 2001
As the Boston College men's cross country team enters the 2001 season, expectations will be higher but more of a challenge to obtain as head coach Randy Thomas tries to replace seven seniors from last year's BIG EAST sixth-place finishing squad.
With the loss of John Dudley and Justin Burdon, who were the Eagles' top two finishers at the 2000 conference championship, to graduation, Thomas will look to several athletes for support as his team tries to stay around the top of the BIG EAST.
"We graduated four seniors from last year's conference that finished sixth in the BIG EAST," Thomas said. "In order for our team to stay in the top six, which is our goal, we will need to get all five of our runners in the top 40."
Senior co-captain Colin Wolfe, who missed the 2001 outdoor track and field season while studying abroad, is one of four Eagle runners returning who competed in last year's conference championship meet. Wolfe placed 31st at the BIG EAST Championship, which was third best on Boston College's squad. He followed his conference result with a 34th-place finish at the NCAA District I Qualifier, which is the final meet before the NCAA Championship.
Thomas believes senior co-captain Nathan Buttrick, junior Shawn Wallace and sophomore Byron Gartrell can be major assets to this year's squad. All three runners return with a lot of experience as they all competed in the 2000 BIG EAST Championship. Wallace turned in the top performance, out of the three, as he finished in 61st place at Boston's Franklin Park. Buttrick placed 71st in the competition and earned a spot on the Eagles' NCAA District I qualifying team. Gartrell was the only freshman on Boston College's team to run in last year's conference meet, and Thomas feels Gartrell, along with Wallace and Buttrick, can help the Eagles reach their goal at the championship.
"We have good balance this year, especially with several upperclassmen returning, but we are going to need help from the freshman class," Thomas said.
With the loss of seven seniors to graduation, Thomas was able to reload with several strong incoming freshmen. Adrian Anderson, Ryan Burke and Trevor Rozier-Byrd are three freshmen Thomas believes will contribute immediately for the Eagles.
Anderson, a native of Oregon, took home first-place honors in the 3,000-meter run at the 2001 Oregon High School State Track and Field Championships. Burke, an in-state product who earned a top 10 finish at the 2000 Massachusetts High School Cross Country Championship, enters his freshman season with one of the fastest one-mile times on the team. Rozier-Byrd, a resident of New Jersey, was one of the top high school distance runners in the state as he placed in the top 20 at the 2000 high school state championship.
Even with the addition of several freshmen to this year's team, Thomas realizes the difficult transition it can be for a freshmen to compete at the collegiate level.
"Since it is drastic difference in distance from a high school to college race, we do not increase their training so they have too much on them too soon," Thomas said. "We try to take what they did in high school and add on to it a little at a time."
This season's schedule is highlighted by the Iona College Meet of Champions and New England Championship, which lead up to the 2001 BIG EAST Conference Championship, which is hosted by St. John's on October 26 at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y.
