Post by thesportscritic on Sept 20, 2005 8:11:32 GMT -5
McDougals' competitive spirit runs in the family
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
September 20, 2005
There is a moment when Josh McDougal realizes it is all worth it.
At that moment, it is worth the exhaustion of 100-plus mile training weeks, and the pain of running through nagging injuries that is multiplied by the constant pounding of foot on dirt.
With about a mile left in a race, the moment appears, and McDougal nearly always seizes it.
The runners around him begin to tire and falter. McDougal only gets stronger.
“I love the thrill of racing, especially when I’ve put in the work and I’m coming into the last mile, and guys around me are working hard and dropping off,” he said. “And I know I’m sitting on at least two or three more gears. Then, I can take off and put the hammer down.”
More often than not, he’s done just that. McDougal has won nine of the 10 races he’s run as a Liberty Flame, including 8Ks this year at Virginia Tech and VMI. The only time he didn’t win was at last year’s cross country nationals, when he finished 13th, not a bad result for a freshman, but one that was still somewhat disappointing to McDougal after some of the scintillating races he ran during the year.
McDougal, and his younger brother Jordan, are raising the profile of Liberty’s cross country program. The Flames, who used to compete only regionally, are sending a squad to Stanford next week for a high-profile meet against some of the nation’s top runners.
Jordan, who just turned 18 in June but is beginning his second year at LU, finished second in both of his races this season, finishing just behind his older brother.
Or did he?
At Virginia Tech, Jordan and Josh, showing just how close they are fraternally and competitively, crossed the finish line hand-in-hand. Josh wanted to give his younger brother the win, but the scorer gave it to Josh, giving him his eighth win in eight regular-season meets.
“We intentionally tied,” Josh said. “If anything, I thought I let him cross the line first. I don’t know why they gave it to me.”
The gesture was typical. Josh has always been more an encourager as an older brother than a bully, Jordan said. That’s helped Jordan make the early transition from high school to college seamlessly.
Jordan redshirted last fall for two reasons. For one, he was barely 17, and the year off would give Jordan a chance to adjust to college life. Also, LU coach Brant Tolsma figured by staggering the two brothers, it would give Jordan a chance to shine as a senior and give his program five years with a McDougal in the lineup.
“At times I really didn’t want to, I really wanted to get out there and run,” Jordan said. “But coach (Tolsma) made a very wise decision.”
The brothers were home schooled in Peru, N.Y., a tiny community near Lake Champlain north of the Adirondack Mountains. Their mother Lisa ran in college and both parents run recreationally. Josh and Jordan both began to focus on running in their early teens after spending years playing soccer and baseball.
Neither ran typical high school races. Instead, they got a head start on elite competition by racing in nationally sanctioned events like the Foot Locker cross country championships.
Josh began running unattached in college events a full five years before he arrived at LU.
“If anything, he had too much big-meet experience, and not enough small-meet experience,” Tolsma said.
It’s an important distinction to make. The cross country season is all about peaking at the right time, in training and in competition. Often, that means running to the level of your competition. Josh McDougal is well aware that he is miles better than some of the competition he saw at smaller events like the races at Virginia Tech and VMI. So he paced himself, running hard enough to win comfortably, but not so aggressively that he exhausted himself for LU’s important October and November meet schedule.
The meets are all “big-time” from here on out for LU: The Flames run in NCAA pre-nationals, the Big South championships, NCAA regionals and the NCAA championships after this weekend’s split at Stanford and the Richmond Cross Country festival.
One of Josh McDougal’s big goals, aside from winning every meet he enters, is to help LU qualify for nationals as a team. One elite runner isn’t enough for LU to meet that goal.
McDougal’s intense training regimen, one that he basically conceived on his own, has rubbed off on his teammates. Josh will break the 100-mile mark most weeks in training and sometimes push 120 miles.
That sort of training was unheard of before the McDougals stepped on campus.
“All summer, we’ve had guys just working their butts off,” said LU senior Evan Falat, who finished 12th at VMI last Saturday. The Flames took second behind the Keydets. “We had one week in August where our top six guys all ran their highest week of mileage. That’s a big thing. You know Josh is doing this, so we need to be working hard too.”
The challenge now for the LU coaching staff is to develop Jordan while not necessarily measuring him against Josh, whose eventual goal is to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Josh was a college freshman at age 19. Jordan is a sophomore at 18. So to expect Jordan to replicate Josh’s success this year will be a bit much to ask, especially considering Jordan would have to top Josh in races to do that.
“The sad thing is that if (Jordan) does very, very well, but doesn’t do quite what Josh does, people will always measure him against Josh,“ Tolsma said. “It’s a tall order. There’s no doubt that he quite clearly seems to be our second-best runner right now.”
Jordan is quite content with that role and is eager to learn from his brother.
Just as he’s done all his life.
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
September 20, 2005
There is a moment when Josh McDougal realizes it is all worth it.
At that moment, it is worth the exhaustion of 100-plus mile training weeks, and the pain of running through nagging injuries that is multiplied by the constant pounding of foot on dirt.
With about a mile left in a race, the moment appears, and McDougal nearly always seizes it.
The runners around him begin to tire and falter. McDougal only gets stronger.
“I love the thrill of racing, especially when I’ve put in the work and I’m coming into the last mile, and guys around me are working hard and dropping off,” he said. “And I know I’m sitting on at least two or three more gears. Then, I can take off and put the hammer down.”
More often than not, he’s done just that. McDougal has won nine of the 10 races he’s run as a Liberty Flame, including 8Ks this year at Virginia Tech and VMI. The only time he didn’t win was at last year’s cross country nationals, when he finished 13th, not a bad result for a freshman, but one that was still somewhat disappointing to McDougal after some of the scintillating races he ran during the year.
McDougal, and his younger brother Jordan, are raising the profile of Liberty’s cross country program. The Flames, who used to compete only regionally, are sending a squad to Stanford next week for a high-profile meet against some of the nation’s top runners.
Jordan, who just turned 18 in June but is beginning his second year at LU, finished second in both of his races this season, finishing just behind his older brother.
Or did he?
At Virginia Tech, Jordan and Josh, showing just how close they are fraternally and competitively, crossed the finish line hand-in-hand. Josh wanted to give his younger brother the win, but the scorer gave it to Josh, giving him his eighth win in eight regular-season meets.
“We intentionally tied,” Josh said. “If anything, I thought I let him cross the line first. I don’t know why they gave it to me.”
The gesture was typical. Josh has always been more an encourager as an older brother than a bully, Jordan said. That’s helped Jordan make the early transition from high school to college seamlessly.
Jordan redshirted last fall for two reasons. For one, he was barely 17, and the year off would give Jordan a chance to adjust to college life. Also, LU coach Brant Tolsma figured by staggering the two brothers, it would give Jordan a chance to shine as a senior and give his program five years with a McDougal in the lineup.
“At times I really didn’t want to, I really wanted to get out there and run,” Jordan said. “But coach (Tolsma) made a very wise decision.”
The brothers were home schooled in Peru, N.Y., a tiny community near Lake Champlain north of the Adirondack Mountains. Their mother Lisa ran in college and both parents run recreationally. Josh and Jordan both began to focus on running in their early teens after spending years playing soccer and baseball.
Neither ran typical high school races. Instead, they got a head start on elite competition by racing in nationally sanctioned events like the Foot Locker cross country championships.
Josh began running unattached in college events a full five years before he arrived at LU.
“If anything, he had too much big-meet experience, and not enough small-meet experience,” Tolsma said.
It’s an important distinction to make. The cross country season is all about peaking at the right time, in training and in competition. Often, that means running to the level of your competition. Josh McDougal is well aware that he is miles better than some of the competition he saw at smaller events like the races at Virginia Tech and VMI. So he paced himself, running hard enough to win comfortably, but not so aggressively that he exhausted himself for LU’s important October and November meet schedule.
The meets are all “big-time” from here on out for LU: The Flames run in NCAA pre-nationals, the Big South championships, NCAA regionals and the NCAA championships after this weekend’s split at Stanford and the Richmond Cross Country festival.
One of Josh McDougal’s big goals, aside from winning every meet he enters, is to help LU qualify for nationals as a team. One elite runner isn’t enough for LU to meet that goal.
McDougal’s intense training regimen, one that he basically conceived on his own, has rubbed off on his teammates. Josh will break the 100-mile mark most weeks in training and sometimes push 120 miles.
That sort of training was unheard of before the McDougals stepped on campus.
“All summer, we’ve had guys just working their butts off,” said LU senior Evan Falat, who finished 12th at VMI last Saturday. The Flames took second behind the Keydets. “We had one week in August where our top six guys all ran their highest week of mileage. That’s a big thing. You know Josh is doing this, so we need to be working hard too.”
The challenge now for the LU coaching staff is to develop Jordan while not necessarily measuring him against Josh, whose eventual goal is to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Josh was a college freshman at age 19. Jordan is a sophomore at 18. So to expect Jordan to replicate Josh’s success this year will be a bit much to ask, especially considering Jordan would have to top Josh in races to do that.
“The sad thing is that if (Jordan) does very, very well, but doesn’t do quite what Josh does, people will always measure him against Josh,“ Tolsma said. “It’s a tall order. There’s no doubt that he quite clearly seems to be our second-best runner right now.”
Jordan is quite content with that role and is eager to learn from his brother.
Just as he’s done all his life.
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