Haas has his eyes on NCAA glory

When the IU men's cross country team climbs into the van for the short drive to NCAAs Championships in Terre Haute early this November, the health of the team's core will be an important factor. Even with its recent success on the national level, the team has not gotten to the NCAA's grand finale with everyone 100 percent healthy. \n"I haven't gotten through one yet," junior Stephen Haas said. "Not one season without some sort of minor setback."\nHaas' health will be especially crucial to IU's chances for championships this year. \nFive athletes score per team in a cross country meet. Right now, IU has five solid national-level runners. Therefore if even one runner has an off-day, the entire team's effort could go for naught. \nThis year the team's standouts have changed in several ways. First, it no longer has an older class of veterans to guide younger athletes, as Tom Burns is the team's lone senior. The team will have to forge its own identity and wait for an emerging team leader to set the standard. It will need someone to join the Jefferson twins, Sean and John, as a cross country front-runner.\n"For Stephen it might just take better luck. He's focused, talented and motivated," IU coach Robert Chapman said. "Minor injuries that pop up at the wrong time; that's just simple bad luck. If he can race like I know he can, and the other guys do as well, we could do something pretty special this fall."\nA change in training has positioned Hass to fill this need. This year the runners are focusing all their energy on the NCAA Championships. This required a change in mileage assignments for the long, hot summer.\n"I ran pretty low miles during the summer," Haas said. "I'm just now starting to get up into the 90-100 miles per week range. I'll have a 20-mile run the next two Sundays."\nThis territory is not altogether unfamiliar, as Haas has often relied on high mileage. In the past, the difficult training regiment has been both a blessing and a curse, producing fast times but less durability. \nThe 2004 track season saw Haas post a personal best in the 5,000 meters at 14 minutes and 12 seconds. \nYet the end of the year produced several untimely injuries that curtailed his training and left him finishing further back in races.\nFormer Hoosier All-American Chris Powers was Haas' training partner, and said he believes Haas is right at the brink of serious achievement. \n"Stephen has all the tools to be a big-time player on the national level," Powers said. "This year he just has to put them all together."\n-- Contact staff writer Rob DeWitte at rdewitte@indiana.edu.