University of Minnesota Athletics
Hopkins Previews B1G Meet
10/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
MINNEAPOLIS - The No. 22 Minnesota women's cross country team heads to the 2015 Big Ten Cross Country Championship on Sunday. GopherSports.com caught up with head coach Sarah Hopkins as the team prepares for the B1G meet.
Gopher Sports: How do you feel about the group headed to Big Tens?
Sarah Hopkins: I'm excited. I think it's a group with good mixture of some experience and people who have been there before and some of the new people making their Big Ten debut. The leaders, the people who have done it before are in a really good spot. They're really helpful in preparing the younger ones. Even in the last couple weeks of practice, they're been putting in little nuggets and tid-bits on what the Big Ten meet is all about. That's obviously helpful going in, to have those people mentor them through the meet and be ready to rock and roll.
GS: What are the team goals for this weekend?
SH: Well, their big goal is to be top three as a team. That's been their goal since the beginning of the season. Now that we've raced a lot of the teams that are going to be in that boat, I think second to fifth is kind of the family that we're in right now. Michigan is very, very good right now. They're ranked second in the country. Unless we can get some help, I think they're going to win the meet - unless something goes weird. But, I think we could be second, or we could be fifth, and still run pretty darn well in either scenario. Hopefully we'll be on the high end of that range, but that's why you go and run the race. We'll see what happens once we get out there and compete.
GS: What are the biggest challenges the team faces?
SH: Some of it is just the course. Nobody has ever been there. We're kind of going in blind. We don't know what it looks like. No one knows what it looks like. No one knows how it's going to run. But, I've heard it's pretty flat and fast. The last couple weeks have been good practice for that between Louisville and Wisconsin. We're really ready for that type of race scenario.
Other than that, it's just getting in there and keeping the nerves in check while still being excited and positive, just not letting it become bigger than it is. We've talked a lot in the last couple weeks about perspective. It's another race. It's another 6K. It's another opportunity to go out there and run, come together as a group and fight, but, if you make it more than that, it becomes too intimidating and too crazy. It is a weird race because there are only 100 people on the line. It's a big meet, but it's not a lot of bodies. You have to go out there and just run your race. If they run like they know they're capable of running, good things will happen. If they get too high or too low, they're not going to run well. If they can keep it fun and light and treat it like another race, then they'll do well.
GS: What do you expect out of Liz Berkholtz?
SH: I'm excited. I think Liz is in a good spot in a lot of ways. I think our top group is all there. Their goal is to have three people in the top 14, which is All-Big Ten. In looking at depth charts and results, I think Liz is in that top-10 world. Where in that top-10 world on any given day, that will be what's fun. I think she could be top three or four, or she could be 10th or 14th. There are a lot of moving parts in that top group, but everything about where she is at training-wise and everything points to the fact that she's ready to run a really good race. This course suits her. She likes the kind of track-like courses where she can get out and run and get in a rhythm and just cruise along.
For the seniors, Liz and Kaila, the key is to not put more pressure on it than there needs to be. They need to treat it like another Big Ten meet because that's what it is. If they think about it being their last shot, then they'll make it into too big of a deal. We're trying to not focus on that and instead just think about going in there, leading the team, helping the young kids and focusing on the group. I think they run better as individuals when they focus on the team.
GS: How does the Big Ten meet build into the Midwest Regional?
SH: That's the weird thing about conference meets. No matter how we do there, nothing really happens. At regionals, if we don't run well, we don't go to nationals. At Big Tens, if we don't run well, we still move on. There is that element to it where, better, worse, wherever, it is just another meet. Obviously if you have a chance to win it, it's not just another meet. Winning a Big Ten title is pretty special. Second, third, those would be great; they would be the highest finish we've had in a long time. But, it doesn't really do anything for the next stretch of the season.
We'll talk about staying emotionally level. Whether it's great or not so great, it has to stay emotionally level. We've had years where we've won, and sometimes winning is almost too much of an emotional high. It's hard to bounce back from that, too. We talk about that all year, how you can stay in that emotional even-keel so you don't have that emotional hangover after the meet is over. We do have a lot more work to do and more goals to fulfill throughout the rest of the season. We can't let this meet be the defining point because these next four weeks need to be the defining point.
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Players Mentioned
