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Michigan State's Nicole Bush Finishes 5th At NCAA Nationals, Best Spartan Run Ever - Part 2
Senior Nicole Bush put the finishing touch on an outstanding cross-country season by finishing 5th in the NCAA National Championship meet, leading the Michigan State women to a 5th place team finish, the second best showing ever for the Spartans. Learn why Michigan State's women middle distance runners are among the rising stars nationally. This is Part 2 of a 2-Part Article.
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley
It is important to understand that there is no need for any coach to announce a leader, leaders announce themselves by moving on instinctively. They will not tolerate running with the pack, nor should they.
Steve Prefontaine is the perfect example. Pre never allowed ANYONE at ANYTIME-in practice or competition-to best him. If you wanted to race him in practice two days before an important meet, he would run you into the ground and then do it again on race day, only by a bigger margin.
Pre made it clear who the leader was and why he was the leader. He was not the fastest runner, but he was almost always the best runner. No one had his heart and guts, and if they did, they could not tolerate his work ethic.
Did you know that Pre never missed a single practice or competition during his entire athletic career at Oregon? Did he ever have a cold? Did he ever have the flu? Did he ever run injured? Of course he did; he just never bothered to tell anyone and would not allow himself to show any obvious stress. Pre was, and is, one of a kind.
Probably at least half if not three-quarters of all running coaches in America will tell you that leaders are made and not born. Imagine taking a runner who has never run faster than 13 seconds for 100 meters and trying to make him into a world class sprinter. I never believed this nonsense 45 years ago and I do not believe it today. I believe, and always have believed, that leaders are born and not made.
A lot of runners who appear not to be leaders (and a few very select Michigan State men may be among this group) actually are leaders. They just do not know it. They are not leading today because they have not been required to lead.
Their instinct will click in when faced with a life and death situation in a foxhole during wartime. Or maybe they are 16 and the oldest of 7 siblings, their father and mother are killed instantly in an accident, and they are left with nothing and the responsibility to raise 7 children or the family will be separated by a state agency with the children in 7 different homes.
When it really counts in life, people in danger do not want to know what you think, they want to know what you know because their life may depend upon your experience, courage and wisdom. That is why with every fiber in my body, my life experience tells me leaders are born, not made.
I know from personal experience that it is much easier to find a winner than to try and develop a winner. Trust me when I say that eagles fly, not chickens. You can coach a chicken for 100 years and if they have no talent and no leadership ability, the result will be the same.
If you want to see a winner, go watch Nicole Bush run. When it counts the most, the leaders will surface. If you want to see another winner, go watch Rita Arndt-Molis coach.
Anyone who runs for the Spartans should understand who they represent and Michigan State’s running tradition. There is exactly one school among the 299 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Cross-Country programs that has won more national championships than Michigan State, and that is Arkansas with 11 titles in 17 years between 1984 and 2000.
Michigan State has won 8 national titles-the first in 1939, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1958 and the last in 1959, 47 years ago. That is too long ago. From 1948 to 1959, Michigan State won 7 titles in 12 years before anyone ever heard of Oregon, Bill Bowerman or Steve Prefontaine. That is dominance.
For the record, UTEP (yes, THAT University of Texas at El Paso) has also won 8 titles while no other school, including Oregon and Stanford, has won more than 4.
On the women’s side of the ledger, Villanova has won 7 national titles and 6 consecutively from 1989 to 1994. Stanford is the current power, winning the last 3 national championships. It is axiomatic that Stanford can be beaten, just as surely as night follows day.
Those almost silent footfalls that the Stanford runners hear behind them are the Michigan State Spartan women getting closer and closer.
(Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a 2-Part Article.)