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Aug. 30, 2010

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -

DAVID RASBACH - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Western Washington University seniors Bennett Grimes, Blake Medhaug and Jordan Welling have come a long ways together. Not just literally with the hundreds and hundreds of miles they have run together during training, practice and competition, but also figuratively in terms of how far they've helped carry the Vikings' men's cross country program during the past three years.

When Grimes and Medhaug came to WWU as true freshmen in 2006, the men's team was coming off a fourth-place team finish at the 2005 NCAA Division II Western regionals and was far from what would be considered a threat on the national scene. Grimes and Medhaug redshirted the 2006 season, when the Vikings again placed fourth at regionals, and were joined in 2007 by Welling, who redshirted his freshman year at Division I Northern Arizona University and decided to transfer closer to his hometown in Burlington.

In the three seasons since the trio started competing for the Vikings, Western has qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships three straight times and finished in the top 10 the past two, highlighted by a fourth-place finish last year - the highest finish by the program since the school became an NCAA member in 1998.

"You could definitely tell the program was starting to turn around," Welling said in a phone interview. "I guess, since the three of us and the rest of that class came here, you can see how the program has progressed year after year. It's been exciting to ride that train and see the improvements."

Grimes, Medhaug and Welling have been at the heart of those efforts, as they each have earned United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association All-America status at least once during the past three years.

"We've all kind of grown up together," Medhaug said in a phone interview. "It's been a long process for us on a team that was not really known nationally. They had made it to nationals only once before we got here, in 2003. Our goal, coming in, was to make it a team that would be a contender every year. We wanted to make sure we made it to nationals every year and improve every time. Last year, we made the podium with the top-four finish, and it was proof that we could do it."

But the trio's work is far from finished. Each would like to help the Vikings take yet another step forward before they graduate.

Wanting to is one thing, but actually being able to crack the top three at nationals is a completely different matter, as the Vikings will have to move past one of the three Colorado schools at the top, which are traditional powers that have the benefit of training at a high altitude, and a host of other talented teams nationally.

Western, which will host the NCAA Division II Western Regional on Nov. 20, enters the season ranked sixth in the USTFCCCA preseason poll.

"It's going to take the right day for us," Grimes said in a phone interview. "You never know how anybody else is going to run. You can't control anything else, but you can control what you do. We feel if we show up and run the way we are capable of, we're definitely going to improve over last year."

Western coach Pee Wee Halsell has no doubt the Vikings' trio of All-American runners will be ready to compete at the top level by the time the Dec. 4 national meet in Louisville, Ky., rolls around.

"It's been great, as far as watching them come in and develop," Halsell said in a phone interview. "All three, we knew had some talent ... But they've also all worked so hard to improve. I look at each one of them and I think how hard they have worked together and by themselves. And that's tough to do, to work as hard as you need by yourself, but these guys all put in the time training."

Fortunately, they've all had each other to lean on, as well.

Medhaug and Welling live in the same house, along with eight other guys - seven of which are also cross country runners.

"It kind of goes back to surrounding yourself with the right type of people," Welling said. "So many decisions, health-wise, make a big difference in running. You need the proper rest and the proper diet. You can't afford to go out and party all the time. So you've got to make sacrifices, or your training is going to suffer. If you live with someone who shares that same commitment, it makes it a lot easier. Plus, after you work 11-12 hours a day during the summer, the last thing you want to do is go running at 6 or 7 at night after you've been on your feet all day. It's great when you've got someone who will wait for you to push you to go running."

While Welling is interning at Heath Tecna in Bellingham, Medhaug and Grimes work together at Fairhaven Runners.

"It's kind of the way on this team," Medhaug said. "We're all a bunch of friends who just run together. When we're not running together, we're doing something else together. We enjoy life with them, and that makes it a lot easier to get out do what we need to do."

Obviously, it's working for the trio and for the Vikings.

Welling, who Halsell said is a runner that really studies racing and takes it very seriously, placed a team-best 13th at nationals last year to earn All-American recognition for the second straight year. He was 29th at nationals in 2008, and finished third at the GNAC championships and second at regionals last year.

"Jordan is definitely one of the most serious, competitive runners I've ever been around," Medhaug said. "That's true about all of us, but maybe more with him. Everything he does is based around running."

Medhaug placed 61st at nationals last year, but earned All-American status in 2008, when he finished 36th. Grimes said he's relatively quiet at first away from the course, but that silent exterior hides a competitive fire that makes him an aggressive runner once the starter's pistol fires.

"Blake wasn't a bad athlete in high school, and after his first year, we thought he would be OK," Halsell said. "But then he got in the Chuckanuts. I'll tell you, he's like a mountain goat - he likes to run hills. It's been a lot of fun to watch him develop into an All-American."

Grimes, who was 56th at nationals in 2009, earned All-American honors in 2007 and 2008, when he placed 43rd and 41st, respectively. The runner from Pocatello, Idaho, has a father that ran Division II track and is known as the most outspoken of the three, according to Medhaug.

"He's great at motivating the younger classmen," Welling said. "He's very in touch with the entire team. He really makes an effort to show that he cares about everybody, regardless of what level they run at. That's what makes him a great captain."

Though all three runners are extremely competitive - even to the point of a friendly rivalry between them - all three said that never gets in the way of helping each other get better and improving the team.

"When one person is succeeding, it helps the others succeed, too," Grimes said. "Sure I'm striving to get first place - I'm not a pushover. But if Jordan or Blake are in front of me and I finish second or third, I'm going to be a whole lot happier than if some guy from Alaska Anchorage beats me. We all feel that competitiveness has helped make this a better team."

So much better that the Vikings' less-than-impressive history on the national level is starting to become a thing of the past.

"We're really proud of where this program is now and where we think it can go," Medhaug said. "This was a team that was overlooked every year. Every year they were saying we were lucky or that we ran the best race of our lives at nationals. But every year, we've been producing, and I think that shows it's more than luck. It shows that we're now a team you have to keep an eye on."

The women's team also needs to be watched closely.

The Vikings enter the season ranked No.7 in the USTFCCCA preseason poll after placing eighth at nationals last year.

The team, which placed fourth at regionals and third at the GNAC Championships last year, also returns a pair of All-American runners. Sarah Porter, a senior two-time All-American, finished second at nationals last year and has to be considered one of the favorites to claim the individual national title this year. She is joined by junior Lauren Breihof, who was 31st at nationals last year.

"The women's team is stacked," Halsell said. "There is a lot of experience - a lot of national experience. We're very excited about that group. They want to be top four, just like the men. That would mean a podium finish and a chance to get your picture taken with the big trophy."

It would also mean another chance to show just how far WWU cross country has come in the past four years.