Surpassing a dynasty

By Josh Griffin

On Saturday morning in Belmont, Calif., David has yet another opportunity to slay Goliath. The Santa Clara men's cross country team has the chance to epitomize this ancient metaphor like few athletes have before them, at Santa Clara or otherwise.

If Santa Clara does in fact defeat the University of Portland in the West Coast Conference Championships Saturday, it could be classified as a miracle, as the 23-time defending champion Pilots appear as strong as ever. But don't mention that to any of this year's Mission Harriers.

"[Portland is] really good year in and year out," said senior Thomas Chapman. "We'll have to run a really good race to win."

Senior Michael Helms agrees that beating Portland will be difficult, but not impossible. "In order for us to defeat Portland, we are all going to have to click."

Cool confidence is evident among the men's runners, but nothing short of the spectacular will dethrone the champion who has won every WCC meet since the birth of Chapman and Helms, the Leading the way for the Santa Clara seven will be Chapman and Helms, both of whom returned as fifth-year seniors in order to achieve the ultimate team goal of a WCC Championship. They will have to compete favorably with Portland's top three runners - junior Matt Harriman, senior Kevin Smith and junior Jeff Driscoll - in order for Santa Clara to contend.

"If all three of their top guys beat Thomas and I, the odds of us winning are slim to none," said Helms, who was honored as the WCC cross country athlete of the month in September.

Rounding out the top seven for Santa Clara are juniors Ben Gauen, Dominic Ricci and Ricky Brackett, who is coming off nagging injuries that limited him throughout the season, and freshmen John Hinman and Pat Green. While only the top five out of seven will affect the scoring of the meet, each participant will be responsible for competing with their respective Portland counterparts as well as for pushing their fellow Santa Clarans.

"Our coach has been telling us that everyone has to run their race and do their job in matching up with Portland," said Helms.

The team is taking the approach of turning the conference meet into a dual meet with Portland, while remembering not to let any unforeseen opposition sneak in and upset Santa Clara's own mentality.

"It basically has to be a race between us and them," said Helms. "If we can have our fifth guy compete with their fifth, and Thomas and I are competing for the top spot, we have a shot at this."

As David reminds us, the underdog is capable of triumph regardless of the magnitude of the deficit that needs to be overcome.

While the men hope to dethrone a dynasty this weekend, the Santa Clara women are looking to repeat last year's surprising victory over Portland. If their performance at the Willamette Invitational was any indication, Santa Clara is on their way to a repeat, albeit a close one.

The Broncos placed fifth out of nine teams in Oregon and Portland placed seventh, trailing Santa Clara by only four points in overall scoring by a tally of 138-142.

Leading the pack is transfer Kim Bates, who is running her final year of eligibility at Santa Clara after a distinguished career at national powerhouse University of Arizona. Bates is the odds-on favorite to capture the individual WCC title. Bates will face off with senior Nicole Ricci and sophomore Alison Smith, the top two runners from Portland.

Following Bates for the Broncos are sophomore Robin Bell and junior captain Milena Basile, who are so close in talent that they are often joined together as one in jest.

"A big joke on our team is referring to them as Milena/Robin, as if they are the same person because they are so close together in our races," said sophomore Katie Hansen.

In fact, at the Willamette Invitational, Basile finished the 5,000 meter course in 18:27.15, exactly .04 seconds ahead of Bell.

In the same meet, Portland's third and fourth runners, senior Jodi Minard and sophomore Hannah Coombe, came in behind Basile and Bell, narrowly edging out Santa Clara's fourth and fifth runners - Hansen and junior Courtney Daniels.

Rounding out the top seven for Santa Clara are freshman Kiley Strong and junior Cara Payne, who will attempt to move up into one of the top five scoring positions.

While the team is focused universally on defending as WCC Champions, it is undoubtedly going to require a triumphant effort from top to bottom, not only because of the quality of Portland's team, but because they are now a target for the opposition.

"I think the pressure is a lot stronger," said Bell. "Last year, we were the underdogs, and we just showed up and won the meet unexpectedly. This year we have a target on our backs, which will make it even more difficult to win the meet."

Beyond the nerve-wracking expectations associated with this year's meet, every member of the Santa Clara squad will have to rise to the occasion.

"The difficult thing is that every single person needs to have a good race and win their match-up with Portland," said Basile. "It goes to show you the significance of the team concept in cross country. We all know where we have to be on Saturday."

If the members of the men's and women's cross country varsity teams do run the meet of their lives, Portland will be looking at the wrong end of a shutout for the first time in 23 years at the WCC Championships.