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Thompson Set to Represent Duke at NCAA Championships
11/20/2015 10:00:00 AM | Cross Country
DURHAM, N.C. -- Redshirt senior Shaun Thompson is set to represent Duke Saturday, Nov. 21 at this year's running of the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, held on the E.P. 'Tom' Sawyer State Park course in Louisville, Ky. The men's 10-kilometer race is slated for a 1 p.m. start, with a live stream of the event available at NCAA.com.
“I think [Shaun] is in a great place mentally,” head coach Norm Ogilvie said. “Shaun has gone up against, for one, Shawn Curtin of Virginia Tech four races in a row, one of the best runners in the country. He's beaten him once and finished very close to him this past weekend. He knows he's right there. Having that kind of confidence is really helpful in running, which is a huge mental sport.”
Thompson secured a spot in this year's championships by earning an auto berth out of the NCAA Southeast Regional meet, where he placed second overall with a personal-best 10-kilometer time of 29:11.7 on the challenging Panorama Farms course in Charlottesville, Va. In addition to the 31 teams selected to participate in the race, Thompson is also joined by 37 other individual competitors who earned spots in Saturday's race through an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.
“I decided this year that I wasn't going to let anyone else dictate my race,” Thompson said. “I just go out and do what I need to do to run the best I can, and it's been working. It's hard not to consider some people's resumes heading in, like Edward Cheserek of Oregon, who is the favorite. He's won nationals the past couple years, but I raced him at the Pre-National race in October, and that didn't stop me from going out and trying to make the race an honest race.”
The Baldwinsville, N.Y., native has posted a spectacular cross country campaign. Thompson has placed among the top seven in every race this year, including at the Princeton Inter-Regional Meet (first), the Pre-Nationals Invitational (seventh), the ACC Championships (sixth) and most recently at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships (second).
Saturday's contest marks the second NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships of his career. In 2012, Duke qualified as a team for the national competition, with Thompson serving as the team's fourth finisher.
“I'll be nervous, for sure, but nerves also get your body ready and get you that little bit of adrenaline you need to get off the line and to get going,” Thompson said. “I'm trying to hold off any nostalgia until afterwards, and then I can think about that then. I'm excited. I want to run well and show what I'm capable of. I'm excited to give it a last go and see what I can do.”
For more information on the meet, including parking and course maps, visit here. On-site parking for the event is available. Each spectator attending the meet will be charged $10, which is collected while parking.
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