An Interview with Stanford's Chris Derrick

Derrick placed fourth overall in the men's white race at the NCAA Pre-Nationals (Tim O'Dowd)

As a high school senior, Chris Derrick accomplished some big things.  The Neuqua Valley High School (Naperville, IL) standout led his team to a national title at Nike Team Nationals with a first place finish, while placing second at the Foot Locker National Championships a week later in San Diego.  In the spring Derrick won the 5,000m run at the Arcadia Invitational, running a U.S. #6  all-time performance in 13:55.96.  A few weeks later Derrick cut his season short after coming down with a bout of mono.

Healthy and training well, Derrick entered Stanford University this fall.  With a new coach (Jason Dunn), a talented list of teammates and the motivation to improve upon last fall's 19th place finish at NCAA XC Nationals, Derrick and his Cardinal teammates lept into this season with a renewed sense of optimism.  At Pre-Nationals two weeks ago Stanford crushed their competition in the White Race, winning the team title with 77 points, while Derrick placed second for his squad with a fourth place finish in 23:37.

Trackshark spoke with Derrick this week, leading up to the Pac-10 Championships and less then a month away from the NCAA XC Championships.  See what he has to say about his transition to collegiate running, how his classes are going and the goals moving forward for both himself and the Stanford squad.

Trackshark (TS): Congrats on a great start to your college career.  What was it like for you to get out there at Pre-Nationals, mix it up with some of the nation's best, and come out with a fourth place finish?

Chris Derrick (CD): It was pretty suprising to finish so high. I had expected more like 10-15 but I got out early with Elliot Heath and we just tried to never leave the front pack. There was a point just after 5k were I made a pretty big move down a hill to go into second and that was a little nerve racking because I knew there were 20 really good guys just off of my shoulder and I'd never been in that situation before. But I thnk having teammates up there really helped and the team win really made it an awesome experience.

TS: This weekend is the Pac-10 Championships.  With such strong squads like Oregon involved, what's your personal goal for the meet, as well as the team goal?

CD: For the team side of things we would like to win the meet. Obviously Oregon  brings everyone back from their national championship team but we feel like we're in really good shape and we want to aim high. Individually I have no idea what to expect so I'll just do what I've been doing and go out with the team and see what I can do the last 3k.

TS: You've seemingly adapted very well to the collegiate system.  What's been the biggest change thus far from high school to college?

CD: There are probably two things. One is having the discipline to get to sleep when everyone else is staying up (I read somewhere the average Stanford student goes to bed at 2). The second is that are practices are a lot longer than in high school because we are usually doing some sort of supplemental work after our runs. I was pretty sore because of that for the first few weeks.

TS: Last spring you had to sit on the sidelines during the post-season due to a bout with mono.  Did watching something like German Fernandez setting the national two-mile record motivate you even further to get back into training?

CD: I think it probably got me excited to run again because I had just been cleared by the doctors, but training for me has always been very intrinsically motivated. When I race I focus more on external factors like who's ahead of me but when I train I don't think I'm ever really motivated by stuff like that.

TS: Your team is achieving much more than many predicted.  What's the team done this season to stay focused and keep improving?

CD: There is just a great excitement and togetherness on this team that makes for a great atmosphere to train in. It really reminds me of the team I was on last year that won NTN, everyone is just pumped and positive for every race. I also think that we placed higher expectations on ourselves than outsiders did. There is a ton of talent on this team and while some people may not remember what this program was 5 years ago we definitely still do and we come in with the expectation that we can take it right back to that place.

TS: Coach Tegen recruited you to Stanford, but Coach Dunn has since taken over.  How's Coach Dunn been as a coach thus far?  How does his training match up to what you did in high school?

CD: I was actually recruited more by Coach Vidal who is still the assistant here so that made the transition smoother. I also knew Coach Dunn from talking to him when I was looking at Virginia. I think he's been really good for the team because he is really even keeled and helps to set the expectations I talked about earlier. After pre-nats he told us that it was a great performance but we should expect to be that good. He carries that same attitude into workouts and that really has us saving our emotional energy for the end of the season. His training is also pretty similar to what I did in high school so that's been nice.

TS: You've been blogging for the Stanford athletics website and have shared some fun stories.  It seems like the squad is very close. Are there any teammates that stick out as the most entertaining?

CD: We definitely have a really close squad. There are a ton of guys that are really funny. Chris Mocko probably thinks he's the most entertaining but I'd have to say Ben Johnson cracks me up the most. But really there are about 5 guys that I could answer this question with.

TS: How have classes been treating you?  What are you taking this semester?

CD: Classes are pretty alright. I'm not taking any hard math or science classes, which is nice. I just have Introduction to Humanities (mandatory for all freshman), Spanish, and Psychology.

TS: Any predictions for yourself and the team heading into the last month of the season?

CD: It will be fun.

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Untitled Comment

03:53, Wednesday, October 29, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

German or Chris?

to the last comment...

06:46, Wednesday, October 29, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

shut up

Scotty Does know

09:45, Thursday, October 30, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Back when you were Barringrun, I knew you would keep trying to help the sport even after you graduated.