Feb. 27, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Press Conference
Men's Track and Field
February 26, 2009
John Mahoney is a senior. He is a distance runner and will be running in the 3K and 5K this weekend.
Michael Cadau is a junior. He is a sprinter and will be running in the 200, 400, and 4x4 relay. He will possibly be in the DMR as well.
Head Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan
What type of advantage does it create to be hosting Big Tens?
John Mahoney: The atmosphere, the majority of people in the stands are going to be Penn State people cheering for us. We've raced four times already here this year so we're really comfortable competing here and we'll always run well here. So, we're excited about that. The one thing we don't like about being in the Big Ten is we have to travel a lot further than everyone else and we're looking forward to having everyone hike out here to race against us.
Mike Cadau: At our events this year we came up with this thing, this thing that we say that everyone that comes into our house is trespassing on our territory. This is our territory. This is where we work out. This is where we compete. This is where we're throwing up in the trashcans after workouts. So anybody who comes in here isn't really welcome and I think that's an advantage. Personally, one advantage for me and a lot of the other guys is we really don't have an opportunity to see our family and friends year round and having them hike out here to come see us makes us feel like we really can't lose in front of family and friends. You don't want to look like a goofball. That definitely is an advantage to some of us, too.
How does the depth of the field change this weekend as opposed to the four weekends that you've hosted in addition to your travels in Seattle and Arkansas? Just talk about this weekend compared to those.
John Mahoney: Coming from a distance perspective we split up the teams two weeks ago because in Seattle it was heavily distance. Some of the best distance runners in the country were there. I think that's really going to get us prepped up real well to compete at Big Tens. I mean a lot of our main competition in distance is Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and all three were at Washington. So, we got to see some of that and we competed well with them and I think that gives us a lot of confidence going into the meet because in the past we haven't on the track. We've proved ourselves in cross country this year by being able to compete with those guys and we're carrying it over to the indoor season. We have a lot of confidence and momentum going forward
Mike Cadau: It's nice to see what you're up against. When we split up two weekends ago I went down to Tyson with all the sprinters and the jumpers because that was more of a sprinter/jumper type of field. It's real nice to see the top portion of the country and what we're up against. I saw a lot of sprinters that I'm going to be seeing this weekend and in further weekends. They saw a lot of people who they'll be running against and it was nice.
With the teams split this weekend how much of a benefit is it for you guys to have Coach Sullivan here with you as opposed if she were somewhere else?
John Mahoney: She just gives you that last minute advice as far as competing, training. As she says, "the hay is in the barn," which means nothing is really going to change much. You're just a lot more comfortable when your coach is here. Before the race she's there to calm me down going through some last minute stuff and that's something we haven't experienced because she traveled with the women the last two years that she coached us. So you're just in that comfort zone and I know some guys are going to have their specialty coach there and some aren't so you just gotta roll with it. I mean we're not the only team in that situation. More than half the teams are combined like we are and they're going to be experiencing the same thing so you can't look at it like it's not fair to us because it's pretty much an even playing field as far as that goes.
Mike Cadau: I feel the same way. I feel like everyone is really in the same boat with how everyone splits up and everything. Like he said it really is nice to have your coach there but in the same sense all the coaches do their part to make sure they're involved and make you feel like they're your coach. All the other coaches are going to do their part. I know Drew [Hardyk] is always in my face. He'll be in my face telling me what to do, get amp-ed up and stuff like that. So, I as much as it's a disadvantage it's not so much.
John Mahoney: They're always a phone call way. They're going to be busy, and they probably don't get much sleep because there are athletes they are not with and they have to go through and make a phone call to each one of them. But, you know that you can always get hold of them and it's nice to know that they're only a phone call away.
Mike Cadau: Texts are really big with our phones. I see coaches texting, texting, texting. We will already know how the girls are doing and who won, who qualified for the next day and the same goes for them. I know previous years I qualified onto the next day and I get a text saying, "Congratulations," and we do the same thing back and forth (with the women and the coaches that are at the other meet).
With a big meet like this, with you being sprinter, Mike, and you being distance, John, how much of a role do the distance people play in motivating you, Mike, when you're preparing for your race and vice versa? How much interaction do you have on a given day?
John Mahoney: This is the one meet where everyone interacts with everybody. I mean throughout the year everyone's doing their own thing, the meets are a lot longer, you're in and out of the building. This isn't a long meet each day, you're only here for a couple of hours, everyone's here and it's a team scored meet. So everyone's here and everyone's in everybody's faces yelling and cheering. It really brings the team together beforehand and even at the meet. It's a huge advantage in the fact that we're going to have all the guys competing for each event cheering for other events and plus we have guys who won't be competing like our Javelin throwers. They only compete outdoors and they're going to be here. They've never seen Indoor Big Tens before and we just have that many more guys to give us that advantage.
Mike Cadau: A lot of us do interact on and off the track, but for those who don't really interact together off the track you won't be able to tell this weekend. You'll be able to think that every single Friday and Saturday when we go out to dinner that all 32 of us go out together. That's the way we interact this weekend and I feel like everybody's yelling and everybody's cheering. Most importantly are the people who aren't competing like the javelin people and all the people helping out. You'll hear them being noisy too. Everybody's going to be coming together this weekend.
You mentioned the streamlined format, how much does that change your day of the meets? You mentioned before how you're here a lot longer for other meets how does the indoor championship change your preparation or mindset so to speak?
John Mahoney: I don't think it really changes your preparation. If anything I think it makes its better. It's not dragged out. You're waiting to race. You're cheering for people. You're waiting to warm up then come back and get ready to race. So, I think personally it's better.
Mike Cadau: Yeah, I think it's definitely better. For example, one of our 800 runners at the beginning of last season ran a race early in the morning and had to sit around to run the relay later in the day. He hurt his hamstring doing something like that. So being on a rolling schedule, everyone being active the whole time is really an advantage. For me personally I don't get a chance to sit down. I have like 50 minutes between three of my races so I'm going to be right into it and everybody's going to be all over the place. It's going to be really exciting to see because no one gets a chance to sit down and everyone's going to be all movement.
Does fatigue ever become a worry in situations like that?
Mike Cadau: No, I feel like everything is spaced out perfectly for everybody. I feel like other days, the days that drag on and are really long, fatigue really sets in, but in an atmosphere and excitement like this I don't think fatigue will set in. Adrenaline takes over.
What types of goals have you guys set individually or as a team for this weekend?
John Mahoney: Well we've improved each year so we want to prove to the conference that we didn't just get lucky the last two years. We're going to be up there and competing with the top teams year in and year out. We want to show that and make a statement saying that you're not going to come in here and roll over us. So, we're going to fight hard in every event and the most important thing for us is Saturday because there are a few finals on Saturday but a lot of them are going to be trials to move on to the finals on Sunday. If you don't get guys moving onto Sunday you're not going to have a good championship. So we're trying to focus on Saturday, showing up, getting ready and if everything works out come Sunday we'll be sitting good.
Mike Cadau: I think for us right now we just need to put our foot down and say, "we're a good program." We can compete every year and have the same results and be near the top. I think we set our goal for top 3. If we get a good day rolling on Saturday we're going to be rolling into Sunday and that's where you'll be seeing momentum.
Coach, how exciting is it for the program to be hosting this weekend?
Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan: It's awesome. I mean we obviously love our facility and we think we have one of the best facilities not just in the conference, but in the country. It's exciting to be able to showcase it and put our athletes at one of the highest competitive times of the year on a great facility and then add in the fact that it's a hometown crowd is even better. So, we're excited to host. Penn State's a great place to be and it'll be fun to have the conference back in our house.
Talk a little bit about the depth of the field this weekend.
Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan: This is an incredibly deep conference right now. On paper, probably the runaway favorite would be Minnesota. After that you have Wisconsin, who's been a traditional stronghold on the men's side and being a top finisher they're going to be strong. Michigan is outdoor Big Ten Champs. We've got a fighting chance. Michigan State's improved quite a bit, and Purdue has some front-end kids. There's no clear definition of a runaway meet. It's really going to be a dogfight. It's really going to take the team that has momentum and has a great first day to set them up for the second day. So we think were prepared, we've got all our entries in the right place and we've got things going. It's a matter of execution now.
Talk a little about how what your weekend here will be like. Where will you be at certain times? Who will you be coaching specifically or are you bouncing around from place to place all day?
Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan: Me personally as the director and head coach, like I do at every meet, I'll pretty much pay attention to every event and at our venue it's going to be easy to do that. It's easy to get from point to point to see things. I directly coach kids from the 800m on up. I'll be covering some of Coach Gondak's athletes while he's gone over with the ladies in the 800, but will be managing the whole kit and kaboodle all weekend. We have a pretty busy weekend on tap from the hosting side of things. We have the coaches' meeting Friday night, the team meeting as well the team dinner and then on Saturday we have a fortunate situation. We have close to 75-100 alumni coming back into town so we'll be having an alumni social Saturday night, which ought to be a great experience for all of us, then finishing off with the championship on Sunday. There are always a lot of parents here for this weekend and it'll be great to see the parents and family that will be here to support the guys. Also at the same time we'll have a lot of recruits here so every facet for what we do for our profession will be going on this weekend.
Does the home crowd ever become a distraction to host a big event like this?
Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan: I don't think so. I think Penn State has such an awesome support staff here. Even though we put on the championship in our facility, we have a championship director in Jenn James. We've got great support from the medical side of things to sports information. Everything is well covered so it really doesn't feel like more of a strain, it just builds up a lot of excitement around the sport.
What are your goals as a head coach?
Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan: I think they've named it. I like to see the program continue to progress. This is our third year with the men's program and like John says we keep getting better. I think that's the first and foremost thing you want to come off of a weekend with is that as a coach when the guns goes off for the first competition, you've prepared your team and I really feel like this team is prepared. I do feel like this team is very, very well prepared. I think this is a great team and a team that makes a difference, and this can be a turning the corner type of weekend for us and that's what I hope to come out of it Sunday. Not only with great results and end results but the experience that these young men get to experience together is really important to me.
With your staff split this weekend how difficult is it to have a coach in each specific area?
Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan: This is difficult. It's extremely difficult on the coaching staff in that you spend your career mentoring and coaching young people and then not being able to participate in their championship experience is difficult for a coaching staff. We're people who spend 7 days a week together and 5 or 6 hours a day or more together and to split up during championship time can throw you off your game a little bit. In addition, with the athletes, no matter what decision you make athletes go without their primary coaches so it's a tough one on us. It isn't a new thing. We knew it was coming. We made good decisions on who's where and it should go without a hitch. I'm sending Coach Johnson ahead with our women's team, he's our associate head coach and he's well versed at being able to manage a team in a championship setting and a number of us will be here to take care of business. I think it'll go fine.
Talk a little about the confidence level heading into the weekend.
John Cadau: We're pretty confident, definitely more confident than we've ever been heading into a Big Ten Championship because we realize we have improved over the past two years. We have a lot of older guys on the team who know what it's like and the atmosphere is just completely different at the Big Ten Championships than at every other track meet. Just the success we've had in the past I know from a distance standpoint we've gained a lot of confidence in cross country and I think the rest of the team got excited about that, which got us excited too. We picked it up in cross country and we're bringing it through to the indoor season so we're excited. I've been looking forward to this since I came to Penn State to kind of show off our place here and run at home so we're just really excited and looking forward to it.
John Mahoney: I feel like our confidence level is right where it should be two days before competition. We still have to get to Saturday and Sunday and I really feel like it's not too high. I think we know we could possibly win but we're not running around with our head up so high and everything like that. I think it's right where it needs to be and I think you'll be able to tell in a lot of people's performances this weekend.
Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan: I think this program has turned the corner in what it takes to be a championship program. We've been down at the bottom for a while when we started up, but it's a learning process about how to become champions. I'm really glad that we're hosting because it made my decision really easy to just stay, so that's why I'm here. This is a special group of guys this year and they are "game-on" and have turned the corner in knowing what it's going to take to put this program in the position to be champions.