Oklahoma State Head Cross Country Coach Dave Smith Talks Cowboys Season Opener, NCAA Title Defense

hey everyone Keenan gray here from die.com bringing you another edition of diat discussions the Collegian season starts this week and a big one down in Stillwater Oklahoma the cowboy preview and of course the man to talk about that cowboy preview is none other than the head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys and cowg girls Dave Smith he joins us here on die stat discussions Dave it's a privilege to have you on tell us kind of the excitement that is within this program obviously coming off what was a historic year last year the men when the the NCA title and the women finished third overall in Virginia yeah it was a it was a it was obviously a great year um I think not only in cross country but kind of continued into indoor and outdoor track and we had one of our one of if not the best um years in our program's history so you know that was um was awfully exciting um but like I told my team we've got to move past that and get on to what comes next and so you know here we are in 2024 trying to get after it and we're trying to approach it like we're starting square one and um yeah that's where we are so you see something like that in the preseason polls obviously it's it's congratulating guys on what you did last year but also it tells us everybody is back it seems like from last year's team what can you tell us about this year's group and who is back for this year's team well on the men's side we returned everybody except for Alex Mayer so the whole the whole crew is back and I'm ready to go and I think we're in we're really good position on the men on the women's side um we lost a bunch we you know Taylor row uh Gabby galvita Gabby hentan Molly born um Stephie Moss uh Heidi demio either for one reason or another um aren't competing this year or aren't here and so um yeah it's kind of a rebuilding year but I like where we are I think the women in the first couple weeks of the Season look really good what can we expect from the incoming class that you have brought in this year um on the men's side they're going to be probably red shirting so we won't see a lot but we had a big group of guys we brought in last year that red shirted who are starting to get you know make um strides towards contributing and I hope to see one or two of those guys start to break through this year and then maybe three or four more come through next year on The Women's side um I think we'll have some women that might contribute right away OT macowski who's coming from Wisconsin um looks really really good to me I think we're excited about her um maybe even better than we thought she might be when we started this process with her so excited for her same with Gentry uh from Oklahoma she's um similar situation kind of um you know already seems to be exceeding expectations and then um how to transfer to so we'll be okay on the women's side I look at to see what where the Cowboys and the cow girls are at this week I know probably not everybody from The Varsity is racing on the Oklahoma state cross country course uh but what can we expect this weekend I mean it's a nice test to see where you guys are at but also you mean you get the Arkansas men coming over you got Texas A&M Oklahoma Tulsa like it's it's a solid meet we can see yeah it is and you know it'll be a mixed bag on who does what with their teams um you know we won't be running a lot of our um higher end athletes won't be running so um I think the other programs may do some of the same thing I think Arkansas might bring a little deeper squad on the men's side than we were I talked to Coach Buck him a little bit he wants to get his guys out and see where they are and do a little do a little work so I think they're going to do the race and some stuff in addition to it on the course so we may see a deep relment from them um not sure what everybody else is planning but um we're going to see a lot of young guys on the women's side what can we expect from them um same sort of thing we're gonna we'll probably um run women who are in our five to 15 range on our what we what our we think our lineup is right now and then um kind of hold the the ones we might contribute later in the year hold them for later so when you're coming off a year like last year like it seems like there there's two different size of stories obviously the men with so many so much talent back women it's a rebuilding process what's the message I guess for both sides of the program to kind of get ready and like you said move forward on into the 2024 year well for both sides we got let last year be last year and and you know every every year it's a new chapter you got to write the new chapter and you got to kind of let that what happened in the past go and good or bad get over it move on to the next next thing and that's the way we're approaching you know this year um for both men and women um it's easy to get caught up maybe in The Hangover I tell the guys the hardest it's hard to win a championship it's really hard to repeat and so we've talked about you know kind of what na did over the last six or seven years and how remarkable that was and I think if you haven't done that if you haven't been there and tried to repeat you don't understand how hard that is to do that year after year and so you know kind of trying to talk about that we've done it in the past in the 2009 2012 years we were we were doing kind of the same thing it was really really hard um you 2010 I think we won by 120 points and we returned our entire roster and then Shadrach Kiper here who just finished in the late in the high 20s in Nationals transferred in so we had what seemed like an unbeatable team it was hard to imagine a way we could lose and Wisconsin found a way to beat us by 50 points so um you know it's hard to repeat certainly is and obviously like everyone thought like with na last year just with the depth and talent kind of in the same scenario with you guys that that year it's like this team is so good we don't know who's going to be but everyone stepped up big time and in Virginia and a lot of your underclassman did who who do you think really of all those guys there with within that top 15 really stepped up their game when it mattered most well I I think that our entire top seven that we ran in Nationals ran the best races of the season and maybe the best race of their career Alex Mayer maybe not he he was dealing with some injuries he missed a huge chunk of the early season and always started really training in kind of late September early October so he was playing catchup and he was a little behind but as far as the year went I mean he won he was second at the conference meet which was really good but I thought his performance Nationals was probably better than that and the rest of the guys it was unquestionable to me that their best day was the national championships and um I think we've actually done that two years in a row which it's hard to do it takes a little bit of luck I think a lot of um discipline and control by the athletes throughout the season to kind of keep themselves under control when maybe the pressure starts to build the excitement starts to mount not get carried away um but I think we've done a really good job of it the last two years and you know if we want to win this year we've gotta we got to do it again we've got to have everybody step up so who look who did the most well you know I can argue for uh Dennis kimti he was four he was 14th at our conference and fourth at Nationals Victor shama was 45th in our conference and 12th I think in Nationals um faad was sixth or seventh in the conference and and 10th at Nationals um you know all those guys did well will Mirad finishing 80th was his highest finish ever at the national championship so you know honestly a lot of those guys willu we kind of pulled him out of red shirt at the last moment ran him at the regional the conference reg Nationals after we planned on red shirting him and he had a tough day at the uh conference meet and then ran really well at conference and then backed that up with a 50th Place finish at Nationals he was in the mid-30s with a k or two to go and he faded a little bit down the home stretch just being new to it but um all those guys ran really really well obviously like you said like it was it was peing at the right time of the year so and like going back to your point about you know you pulled the red shirt like was that kind of a last minute decision or was that because there was maybe somebody in the program that was that was hurt and who had to get this guy out of his red shirt no it was it was not due to injury it was um just seeing him come along in in workouts and starting to develop and you could see he was starting to hit that exponential uh growth part of his development for the season where he was struggling struggling struggling all a sudden he's improving really quickly and so just played a hunch and kind of pulled his red shirt ran him in uniform at the conference meet and I thought oof maybe that was a mistake and then I ran him at the regional assuming he wouldn't run at Nationals I thought we reged we we we didn't reg we held a couple guys out of the region I thought we may use we'll give those guys a rest bring them back in at Nationals um Victor shitan was one of them and then adisu ran so well at the region I thought well how can I not run him so we end up running him I think he did a great job and result obviously a nice little 23 or 22-point win over Northern Arizona now for the women I mean third place overall and arguably what was was really North Carolina State versus NAU a duel basically but like you you guys held your own you managed to uh do really well finishing in the top three what did you really see from your women at that meet uh just to put themselves in a position like that well I think the women we were one we were within an eyelash of winning it we were 30 points off the win and we the women some of them had their best day at the national championships some of them didn't I thought Bea was great U Molly Bourne was really good gabia was good um kayen Dawson had a great day Taylor row who was has been our was our Rock and the one we could rely on at all times she did not have her best day she won the conference meetting I think she was 30 in the 30s and Nationals um you know she' had three top 15 finishes prior to that so it was a tough day for her had she won it it doesn't change our position we still finish third but had she won it we you just get a little bit here or there we're right in the conversation you know so know I look at it and think well it was an opportunity lost but so so does everybody who doesn't win I'm sure Mike Smith that at knows Northern Arizona feels that much more than I do and rightfully so but we all we all feel that you know every year you think man if only if only if only and all us coaches get together afterwards we say man my team if only we've all got some story about if only so um I thought our women um honestly it was a it was a surprise we went in you know without Gabby hentan and relying on some people that we hadn't really relied on before without Stephie Moss who would you know had done well Force the year before finishing in the 90s and so we thought well this this might not be the year Molly got hurt in the middle of season she missed the first few weeks of October in training She Was Out and she was playing comeback but she get 21st and had her second best national finish ever so you know we had some some really good luck we had some things go well and kind of maximized and it's always easy to look at and think man we're we could have done it but you rarely Look Backwards think we could have done it we could also been back there 10 places too had Molly not had the day she had or had Gabby Galva an 00 meter Runner not been 48 you know we could have very easily fell backwards so um it's easy to look ahead of you and say this is where we could have been you never think well yeah we also could have been 13th if one thing goes wrong the other one so it was a good year um it's fun this year I think for my women's team we are starting over we don't know what our lineup is we don't know what it's going to look like we don't have um I don't even have I have a wide rate I think our women maybe we could be fifth maybe we could be 25th maybe we don't qualify it's hard to know it's a bunch of unknowns and um as stressful as that might be it's also exciting and fun as a coach to think okay how are we going to do this how are we going to make up for the loss of um four all Americans and we've got another one who's going to miss the season for for a medical uh for an injury situation so we're we're going with a whole new lineup and um it's fun to it's fun to kind of try to put those puzzle pieces together obviously you're you're approaching both teams totally different obviously like the men's team has what they have the women's team it's kind of up in the air like like you said it's it's pretty fun as a coach to kind of deal with that when was the last time you really had to deal with something like that before um you know it wasn't too long ago five six years ago um man we we were having a I I tell our team this it's fun right now we're kind of riding away we've been third third second first the men have over the last um several years the women have been 13th fourth third so we're riding this wave and good programs every once in all catch a wave where they become great programs but it's really hard to maintain it eventually that wave breaks and you got to sit and wait for the next one to come around and you do everything you can to kind of speed the speed the process but sometimes it takes time and the men we rode a similar type of way from 2007 to 2013 where you know I honestly felt like man if we don't get a trophy in any given year it's gonna be a miserable failure and you know I got humbled by that thought you know four or five years later I was like man I wish we could get in the top 10 again and so um you know it was just 2019 our men's team didn't qualify and the first time in my career we didn't qualified so we've been here but we've been where the women are before we're trying to figure it out and we've been where the men are where we're trying to um kind of defend and and maintain that edge and and and stay focused I think one trap that we can fall into as you look around or athletes look around they think man we've got all these guys coming back we've added a couple pieces we got kids coming out of red shirt we've got so much depth that I don't have to be great this year if I'm pretty good everybody else is pretty good we're going to be okay I think that's what happened to us in 2011 when everybody decided he we can be pretty good and we'll get there including probably me you know it probably starts with a coach and maybe my subconscious attitude or whatever that kind of gets um imparted onto the team and we kind of woke up in the middle of season thought oh crud Wisconsin's really good and and end up winning so we we've been through that we've learned our lessons and I've told them hey look we have got to approach this year like we're The Underdogs don't believe the hype don't believe the rankings don't believe any of that there are I can think of five teams that I would give equal chances to win the title to us and so um you know we're one of five and then there's probably another four or five that have smaller chances but Chan so it's a it's a big pie you know if you're looking at the the the odds pie it's a big pie divided up into different segments and we've got a piece of it but it's only a piece it's not it's not a majority really Friday is kind of like let's see what the women are kind of made even though you're only not you're not maybe racing the top five but it's kind of like all right let's see where my 6 seven 89 are at is that is that a fair assessment yeah yeah I think so I think also with the men we've got all those young guys that we registered last year that we were kind of um you know some of them Aiden grenad ended up running 340 and 1404 I think last year um so he started develop pretty well by the end of the spring couple others were the 346 347 ranges young guys who made big improvements out high school that progress is hopefully continued and I'm hoping we see a couple surprises now the way we do it it's a 5K race but we don't want to miss this is also the weekends are our kind of big aerobic week uh periods of the week and so we don't miss that time so we will do some work before the race as part of an extended warm-up that will get um you know some pretty good intensity in it before we go and run the race so we'll get to see not only what can they do over this 5K but what can they do in the 5K when they've got some running in their legs prior particular men we should pay or male athlete female athlete we should pay attention for for this week on the men I'm uh I'm really excited to see where Jacob Deacon Aiden gronos heish Hart um uh Ben sorry Matt Thomas um those four young guys Ian k um I think those guys Jerry Mendes to a lesser extent he's he's been a little dinged up but he ran well in the spring I really want to see if again what they did in the spring has continued over the summer and they're um even better now than they were in the in the spring and for the women on the women um it's it's a different scenario we we didn't have this big group of women that we red shirted so it's women that have run before I'm really excited by where both Lauren and Grace ping are right now and kind of gave them the option to race or Not Race and Grace ping if you know her if you give her the option to race she's gonna race doesn't matter what it is so when I say hey you can race or sit it out just kind of train through she really want to go and I think maybe that um kind of maybe Lauren already felt that but as soon as Grace wanted to run then Lauren wanted to run so I'm really excited to see where they are I think they've had a great summer and um our two women that are obviously very talented have struggled with some injuries and some kind of velopment along the way um that's taken time but I really like where they are so excited to see how they do what is the outlook look like for you guys this year schedule wise and you know when when can we see that Varsity squad racing together for the very first time on both the men and women's side we will race everybody who is um not red at the jambur on September 28th and on the men's side we're racing Texas New Mexico um Oregon um and then several others those stand out in my mind if people coaches I've talked to that are coming on the women's side I think New Mexico's coming I'm not sure that Texas or Oregon are bringing their women's team so um I think SMU is coming that weekend so we'll get a little bit of um an idea but the even bigger we know what times mean on this course now it's been uh six this will be six years of running on it so we've got a lot of data we kind of figured out what is predictive and what um early season teams might mean and even in different weather conditions we started to kind of figure that out it took a while because the course is different from what we had you know um prior to the the remodeling of our course the big changes here obviously is the Big 12 you I mean you're basically bringing in it seems like half the mountain region yeah into the Big 12 Conference with with Utah BYU Colorado coming back now I mean it's kind of like a full circle moment with Colorado coming back it's Oklahoma State versus col like that's the big rivalry again in the Big 12 is everybody excited about this big change obviously like the reignment thing is is with because of football but really I mean it shapes up the Big 12 as a really good cross country conference yeah I'm thrilled of it I mean last year the Big 12 and the men went 1357 at the national championships and people missed that and we've done this before the last time car was in the conference we'd have four in the top 12 five in the top 20 as a conference at the national championship so the Big 12 has traditionally been a very strong conference it gets lost in kind of the discussion sometimes I think but it I think the conference is often underrated this year I think that I mentioned some teams that I think have a chance to challenge for a title I think Iowa State and BYU are two of those and they're in our conference and um I haven't even gotten to talking about Colorado yet I think Texas Tech has a a pretty deep revamped lineup this week this year they could be a very good team um yeah on the women's side you get the same teams um plus Utah West Virginia is very good uh on the women's side they don't have a men's team but the Women's Conference is also very deep I think BYU is probably the class of our conference um right now going into the season I think they have um a great veteran lineup and a great coach who will get the most out of those young athletes that anybody will get out of their athletes so they're probably the favorites I would say but I think it's close I think you know again West Virginia Utah uh maybe Colorado um Oklahoma State all our teams that could convin contend for a conference title and BYU I I think on the right day can contend for a national title if I'm wrong this is your 19th year at Oklahoma State this is my 23rd year here my 19th year is the headman's coach as the yeah so 23rd year is this the deepest the Big 12 has really ever been at least what you've seen you know back in the day I think one year Colorado won Texas was seventh we were eighth um Kansas was 12th and maybe Texas A&M was 20th we've had years and periods of time like this before this is certainly a a deep conference and it's hard to say will shake out I meaning last year going 1357 that was probably the best you know having your fourth team in the conference finish seventh I that that is the best that I can remember the Big 12 of being for sure but we lose Texas so we replac Texas with Colorado the cross country side and it seems like at least in the grand scheme of things that'll be even trade maybe not right now I think right now Texas might have a leg up they they were awfully good last year and Greg Mecha down there did a phenomenal job with that group of guys and you know I think kind of shocked everybody but people in Austin when they came away with the with the Seventh Place finish for both the men and women is there is there a theme that you guys have this year does it change every season like what what's your guys's message going into this year yeah sometimes there are there is and it usually takes a while I I kind of get the feel of the season to feel the team and then something pops to my head one night I start saying it repeating it over and over again um one of our assistant coaches Mason Harbor has he's got a a c a phrase he's saying to the women and it's starting to catch I think a little bit and um I'm not going to repeat it because I'm gonna leave that to the women's team to repeat but they've got a they've got something there kind of saying it's starting to take over the the the the kind of the the ethos of our team and the way we're approaching things but I'll leave that for the women to reveal if they want to do that or not I hear it at practice a lot now so yeah on the men we haven't really got there there's nothing that's stood out you know um you know one year notoriously I I we were facing a team in our conference that um was very well coached and very um disciplined in their approach in races and training and everything was very planned and they stuck to the planet and they're always very good at it and um they're races were always really well schemed and um I just we had the um we used the old Mike Tyson um phrase that everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth and so that was our our our our phrase that year and that was the first year we ended up winning coming back and winning a big 12 title after not winning for three years so we'd won 10 in a row and then we lost three in a row and the start of this most recent four in a row was that year and so there is things that kind of come to us along the way that we somehow gets said and then gets repeated and all a sudden it's this kind of motto but we don't I don't sit around and think oh what's the motto for the year I want to plan something out just kind of happens organically or it doesn't sure it does so Dave well I really appreciate your time man wish you nothing but the best this year for both the the men and women's team of course the Oklahoma State Cowboy preview goes on this Friday from Stillwater Oklahoma Dave like I said wish you nothing but the best this year and good luck this season yeah thanks appreciate it