The SF State cross country team finished third – the highest in Gator history – at the home invitational by running smarter instead of harder.

Out of the of seven men’s teams and 10 women’s teams competing, the men and women Gators both placed third at the 2006 SF State Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 7. The Gators are now preparing for the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships on Oct. 21 in La Jolla.

Cross country coach Tom Lyons has taught his athletes to run at their own pace so that they would be strong at the end of the race and possibly pass up other runners.

“Up until now, we were just trying to get racing experience, trying to get ready for post-season,” Lyons said. “But, at this meet we were trying to do well because at this time of season, it’s time to start running fast.”

The team has focused on doing well at the end of the season, rather than during the regular season. Lyons wants his runners to have their best races in the conference championships, west regionals, and nationals if they make it.

Lyons and assistant coach Peter Cushman have four regular season races that lead up to the conference championships to find out what the runners need to work on, and they come up with race plans to have them finish their best.

Lyons observes the runners’ races to see what their strengths are, and then tries to capitalize on those strong points.

Kristin Gallup, a 21-year-old history major, knows her pace because she has been running for nine years, but still feels the advice that she gets from her coach has helped because it’s encouraging.

“With other girls, it helps them to know how to really race efficiently,” Gallup said.

Miranda Houston, an 18-year-old criminal justice major, said she learned the hard way. Houston said she started out too hard because she was used to high school races where the distances are not as long and the ending wasn’t too good.

“If you don’t (pace yourself) you regret it, you’re not going to like it at the end,” Houston said.

Lyons tells the runner what pace to run at during practice, said Batbileg Bor, 21, biochemistry major.

The team practices by running 200s, 400s, 800s, or long distance, anywhere between five to 10 miles. Lyons times each runner and then e-mails all the finishing times to the team.

Bor said the ability to see everyone else’s time is helpful because he only worries about himself when he’s running.

“I can see what everybody else is doing,” Bor said. “I usually talk to individual guys, and say, ‘Hey you did this today, good job.’ I try to cheer them up.”

Bor said Lyons is definitely one of the biggest reasons for the success of the team because returning runners from last year have improved their running times.

Scott Clark, sophomore, improved his running time by 44 seconds at this year’s meet, finishing in at 28:29. At last year’s home invitational Clark finished at 29:13.

Bor said Clark is the fifth man on the team and his improvement puts the Gators way over a lot of teams.

Josh Babiak, a 24-year-old psychology major and 2005 All-American, said Lyons is getting the players to buy into a system where everybody comes to practice and works hard, which he feels is positive in bringing team camaraderie.

“The whole idea of training is coming back day after day, being consistent and getting quality,” Babiak said.

The third-place finish showed the results of all the hard work, Gallup said.

“You’ve got to be patient to see results in cross country,” Gallup said. “It’s not like other sports. We get good at the end of our season.”

Babiak said the confidence of the team is high right now, and going into the conference championships, they’re in a position to do very well as a team.

“Tom knows what he’s doing,” Babiak said. “I could reiterate this 100 times over, we’re headed in the right direction. Third place is a sign of going in the right direction, one year from last to third, I would say that’s pretty good.”