Hansons-Brooks wins third straight title

On a beautiful late autumn afternoon The Hansons-Brooks Distance Project left no doubt who the best team was at this year's USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

The team placed all five of it scorers in the top 12 in a field of 188 runners and scored a mere 30 points to capture the team title for the third straight year. The Wisconsin Runner Racing Team placed second with 49 points and the individual title went to the highly touted Alan Webb in a sprint finish over three-time NCAA steeplechase champ Dan Lincoln.

Coaches Keith and Kevin Hanson said they were very proud of their team, which came into the race at less than full strength.

"Six out of our seven guys had sore throats, one guy was so sick he had to stay home and our number one man from last year ran with a busted rib," Kevin Hanson said. "We had a thousand excuses but these guys have worked so hard over the last few months that nothing could screw it up."

The team race was not really close with The Distance Project able to dominate by sticking together as a true team. With a 1-5 spread of only 18 seconds the Hansons-Brooks athletes literally ran almost side-by-side over the entire 10k course.

Keith Hanson said they were especially pleased with that 18-second gap even though they didn't have a specific plan to run together.

"They got out smart and took advantage of knowing each other out there on the course," Keith Hanson said.

The strategy of working together was especially successful for the duo of Richie Brinker and Marty Rosendahl who got out slower than some of their teammates but weaved their way through the masses together with a strong move in the middle of the race. Brinker and Rosendahl finished 7th and 8th just ahead of teammate Nick Cordes in 9th.

Cordes ran most of his race alongside teammates Clint Verran and Trent Briney and the three took turns pushing the pace and dropping their competitors over the final half of the race. Verran and Briney finished in 11th and 12th meaning only Karl Savage of Zap Fitness, 10th, was able to break up the Hansons-Brooks pack.

For Cordes, Verran and Briney the meet was a step down in distance as all three have qualified for February's Olympic Marathon Trials in Birmingham, Ala. They will be joined by Brian Sell, who finished 23rd at the Club Championships, as well as Jeff Campbell, Mike Franko, Carl Rundell, Bob Busquaert, and Ben Rosario.

The Distance Project was hoping to add one more athlete to that list as teammate James Lander ran the California International Marathon Sunday morning just hours before his teammates ran in North Carolina. Unfortunately, windy conditions made things difficult for Lander who ran 2 hours 22 minutes and 46 seconds. He missed the qualifying standard of 2:22 by less than a minute for the second time in less than two months.

The marathoners will be running the Trials on the same weekend as the U.S. Winter Cross Country Championships. Brinker and Rosendahl will be running at those championships hoping to finish in the top six and qualify for the World Cross Country Championships. They will be joined by Kevin Doyle, who finished 17th at the Club Championships, as well as Mark Menefee and Kyle O'Brien who missed the Club race because of sickness and injury.

Both coaches stressed the importance of those February championships even in the wake of their big victory.

"This is a fun event to do but the reality is that we're all training for a February championship," Keith Hanson said.

Check out hansons-running.com for the latest results and information on The Distance Project as well as upcoming events.