MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY: Stanford rolls out 'Machine' for tuneup

With a few new parts, two-time NCAA champs begin trip toward possible third straight title

by Keith Peters

The Machine is out of the garage once again and ready to rumble. This mode of transporation, however, is unlike any other on the road. It has more than one engine, yet it doesn't guzzle gasoline. Its movement can be electric, yet there are no batteries. It has wheels, but no tires. Get behind The Machine, and it will leave you in the dust. That's when you can read its license plate: NCAA champs.

The Machine. That's what the Stanford men's cross-country team fondly calls itself. However, it's more of a concept than a vehicle.

"It started way back," said Vin Lananna, director of Stanford's cross-country program. "We kept talking about having the kind of team that if one person wasn't having a good day, then another would fill in. They kept thinking about what concept they'd put on a T-shirt."

What members of the 1994 Stanford men's team came up with was The Machine.

"I said, 'what the heck?" Lananna recalled. "Obviously, I thought of a machine rolling over people. I was not in favor of it. They hadn't even done anything yet."

However, at the 1994 NCAA championships in Fayetteville, Ark., team members surprised Lananna with T-shirts emblazoned with The Machine.

"It said, 'The Machine', with little bolts in them," Lananna said, recalling the moment. "We finished sixth that year. I thought, down the road, these guys are going to be good."

Lananna was as correct as The Machine moniker was fitting.

"What has happened in the past 4-5 years is that people have graduated and other people have come in to replace them," said Lananna, whose men's team improved to fifth in 1995 and then captured NCAA titles in '96 and '97. "The parts may change, but the concept stays the same."

After original members of The Machine--Greg Jimmerson, J.J. White and Rob Reeder--graduated after leading Stanford to its first national crown, replacements like Jonathon Riley stepped right in to keep the momentum going for a second straight title.

Gone from last season's team is Nathan Nutter (eighth at NCAAs) and Jason Lunn (29th at NCAAs), but five others from nationals return plus a strong supporting cast to keep The Machine running smoothly.

While Lananna doesn't see too many obstacles on the road to a possible third straight NCAA title next month, he won't have a real grasp of how good his men's team really is until the Pac-10 Championships on Oct. 31 in Eugene, Ore.

"Pac-10's will be the first time we will have our entire squad," Lananna noted.

Lananna had hoped he could have more of his frontline runners available Saturday when the nationally No. 1-ranked Cardinal plays host to the 25th annual Stanford Invitational at the Stanford Golf Course. Health and scheduling, however, won't permit.

Riley, who suffered a hip injury toward the end of last track season, still needs a few more weeks of base work before he's fully ready. And, since the annual pre-NCAA meet set for Lawrence, Kan., has been moved up a week to Oct. 10, Lananna won't have his best compete in back-to-back races.

The goal leading up to the Pac-10 meet, then, is steady progress. Winning is secondary. At least, for now.

"If we go out and win, and don't learn, we get nothing but a W," Lananna said, noting that accomplishing specific goals and preparing for the NCAA meet is more important.

That's why, Lananna said, he doesn't know who his top seven runners will be at the end of the season.

It's a good bet, though, that seniors Brad and Brent Hauser are in that group, along with seniors Jason Balkman and Jonathan Weldon, Riley (a sophomore), plus redshirt freshmen Gabe Jennings and Jamey Gifford. There's also juniors Thomas Murley and Jake Maas, and senior Chris Lundstrom.

The Hauser twins are veteran cogs in The Machine. Brad was the team's second finisher at the NCAA meet (10th) while Brent was 17th. Their talent and experience should put them in position to challenge for NCAA individual honors this season.

Balkman finished 14th overall at nationals, while Riley capped his first year of cross country by clinching the team title with his 23rd-place finish.

Jennings, who redshirted last season and is looking for his first NCAA ring, won the Junior National Cross-Country Championship last year and ran for the USA Junior National Team that competed at the World Championships.

Gifford, Maas and Lundstrom finished 1-2-3 at the Reno Invitational, which kick-started the 1998 season for Stanford. Freshman Jon Stevens, the 1998 Gatorade Circle of Champions National Track and Field Boys Athlete of the Year, will get a good look, as will sophomore track standout Michael Stember.

All in all, the parts are there to keep The Machine running. Now, it's just a matter of getting the proper tuneups and keep heading in the right direction as the NCAA championships loom on the horizon. It should be quite a trip.

Back up to the Table of Contents Page