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Arizona Cross Country Coach James Li - NCAA D1 XC West Regional

Published by
DyeStatCOLLEGE.com   Nov 14th 2013, 5:07pm
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Coach Li has a tremendous coaching resume.  He was the collegiate and current coach of distance running legend Bernard Lagat.  In 25 combined years between Washington State and Arizona he has coached 12 NCAA individual champions, 30 conference champions and 65 all-americans including indoor and outdoor collegiate record holder in the 5k, Lawi Lalang.  In this recent tremendous summer, Lalang set the collegiate 1500 and 5000 meter records.  This year, in the brutally tough Pac-12, he led Arizona to its first women's team title.  We caught up before the west regional meet.  
Adam Schneider (AS) - Talk about the season - have you fullfilled or even exceeded your expectations? - also any surprises?
          James Li (JL) - We knew our team was going to be really good, perhaps better than last year, but I'd say the ladies have exceeded my expectations.  I would not say I'm surprised by any of the performances, but the achievements by these ladies is remarkable.
AS - Do you feel the team is prepared (injuries or health potentially affect that)?
          JL- Yes, I believe the team is well prepared, both mentally and physically. 
AS - Tell me about how you feel coming into the west region - possible factors - recovery from a difficult Pac-12 meet.  What does it say for your top three, that fought through the conditions, to lead the team the way they did? Are you trying to take it easy a little to not have too many strenuous 6ks in a row, 
          JL - The PAC 12 race was a difficult one for us. Perhaps it was because of the elevation, perhaps it was the depth of the conference and the high      expectations of us. The front three ran very well, but the others did not have good races, though they all fought very hard. Their fighting spirit is admirable, and it gives us hope for the bigger races down the road. I certainly wish (at regional) we don't have to work as hard as we did in the conference championships. We just need to make to the nationals.  
AS - Is the team (that we saw at Pac-12s) healthy?
          JL - Yes, we are as healthy as a month ago and at the PAC 12.

AS - You have had a lot of success in your coaching career, where does the first Arizona women's Pac-12 cross country stand for you and why.  
          JL - It is one of the most cherished experiences in my coaching career because it is a team event and a team win. The girls did a great job this       entire season, and everyone of them is special to the team.

AS - Your newcomers have adjusted well and you have had some runners develop, tell us what has happened this year to help with the team's continued success.
          JL - New comers Kayla Beattie and Maria Larson are very talented and driven young ladies. They obviously adjusted well and to the new environment and new training. The returning girls are just motivated and worked hard during the summer and came back in great shape. Most of the returners continued their improvement from last track season (Nicci Corbin, Hanna Peterson, Steph Bulder, ect. Elvin Kibet redshirted) and did a great job contributing to the team's success. 
 
          AS - You are on top of the heap but Providence looks like they are back and ready to retake the favorite's mantle.  How does the west region meet help or hinder your preparation for the NCAA championship?
 
          JL - The top ranking gives us good recognition and publicity. It does not mean anything when the gun goes off at nationals.  Providence is a very good team, and there are many other teams (Arkansas, FSU, Georgetown to name a few) are ready to step in to win the race. We are a very good team, but we have to compete very well. All our girls have to perform well on that day, and we have no margin of error. I'm confident that our girls are ready for the challenge. The quality and depth of the West Region for sure present us with additional challenges (compare to other top teams in the nation). With two races only 8 days apart, we have to be careful not to over compete ourselves in the regional race.  

 

 



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