University of Tennessee Athletics
Kelly Represents Vols at NCAA Championships
November 24, 2003 | Cross Country
Nov. 24, 2003
Senior Tim Kelly's collegiate cross country career comes down to one final showdown at high noon Monday in the NCAA Championships in Waterloo, the anchor of northeastern Iowa. After qualifying individually with a seventh-place South Regional finish, Kelly represents the Volunteers in the last test of the season, a 10,000-meter race on Irv Warren Golf Course. Kelly lines up for his third consecutive NCAA Cross Country Championship, the best total on the squad.
"In the first one [NCAA Championship], I just wasn't ready," Kelly said. "In the second one, I ran like an idiot in the beginning. For this third one, I've been preparing myself mentally very well. I have a good race plan. I've been visualizing what I want to do each race this year, and that's helped a lot.
Kelly will not only need to be in top form physically, but also mentally because the field and the conditions look to be the most challenging of the season. All of the top teams throughout the nation converge on Waterloo with hopes of bringing home a national championship. Stanford currently holds the top spot in the national rankings. However, with nasty weather expected, second-ranked Wisconsin, third-ranked Colorado, fourth-ranked Iona and fifth-ranked Michigan could close the gap thanks to their training in frosty conditions.
Meanwhile, certainly the team and individual talent at the NCAA Championships hits the highwater mark for the season, but Kelly also must contend with weather conditions expected to be far more challenging than Tennessee's balmy fall. According to weather.com, Monday's frigid forecast for Waterloo calls for snow showers with a high/low of 29 and 15 degrees. The news gets tougher for the runners as a 25 mph west wind is expected to make things even more uncomfortable. Not that they needed another challenge, but rain is possible Sunday which could make for interesting footing on the 10K test of pain tolerance. Kelly, a native of Smithtown, N.Y., grew up running in the cold, but the weather didn't give Tennessee a dress rehearsal this season for the conditions expected in Waterloo Monday.
"Part of (preparing for the conditions) is being ready and part of it is just not worrying about it," Kelly said. "I'm from New York, but I haven't really been home much the last three years. It's going to be cold. If it snows there will be a lot of people who won't be ready for it. I look at it like that's a way I can pick up a few and maybe a lot of spots. It will psych some people out.
Kelly's NCAA qualifier keeps alive a Tennessee streak in which the Vols have either qualified a team or individual for the NCAA Cross Country Championships every year except three since 1971.
"The thing that's helped me is the last three races this season I've been really confident going into the race," Kelly said. "My last three I haven't gone into it nervous. I step to the line relaxed and focused on what I need to do instead of how other people are going to run, and that's helped.
