CMC75 Moments: Juiliano Finishes Second at 2001 NCAA Cross Country Championships
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moments, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
2001 Men's Cross Country: Juiliano Finishes Second at NCAA Division III Championships
The CMS men's cross country team won its sixth SCIAC title in a row in 2001, a streak which would be extended to seven the following year. The cap to the 2001 season, though, was the impressive part as senior David Juiliano earned the highest finish in program history at nationals, coming in second place at the NCAA Division III Championships to earn All-America honors. His 24:18.9 time at the Rock Island, Illinois course also remains the best time in program history over an 8K race.
As a team, the Stags won the SCIAC Championship handily (18 points to Pomona-Pitzer's 85), won the West Regionals (39 points to Willamette's 58) and came in 13th at the NCAA Championships. Seven runners earned first-team All-SCIAC honors for CMS as well, with Jose Gomez, Will Berriel, Dan Phiffer, Pat McGrail, Matt MacLeod and Nate Kurtz joining Juiliano in earning all-league accolades.
Perhaps making Juiliano's feat even more impressive was that he only competed on the cross country team as a sophomore and senior, and didn't compete much as a sophomore due to injury. He was far more of a standout as a middle-distance runner on the track and field team, winning seven SCIAC titles. He earned SCIAC Athlete of the Year honors as a senior in 2002 when he swept the conference titles in the 800 and 1500 for the third straight year (his fourth in the 800), and added a league title in the steeplechase for his eighth SCIAC crown, before adding his second NCAA second-place finish in the 800 (2000, 2002).
Juiliano was joined on the All-America list in track and field season by Ryan Gibson (sixth in the javelin), Kendall Grant (seventh in the 100 meters) and the 4x100 relay team of Stephen Miller, Grant, Ben Scott and Les Fletcher (seventh). The Stags won the 2002 SCIAC Track and Field title as well, their 11th in a row, since the 1992 team won the first one in program history.
David Juiliano:
Thinking back on that season and national race brings back some crazy memories. I don't run anymore and every time I try to start again, I end up battling some injury issue that gets in the way, and it is a painful reminder of how fit I was in my earlier days. Still, it was very cool to think back on that year.
The first thing that I remember was that we had an incredible group of guys that year. We pushed each other incessantly. It started the summer before the season when I ran a lot with Jose Gomez and assistant coaches Kelly Beck and Carl Rossi and continued into the season with strong workout after strong workout. The cross country team has a traditional workout called the 4.5-mile time trial, and I am pretty sure that during the season a number of us recorded times for the workout that made the list of fastest finishes for the course up to that point in time. This was a source of pride for us and a good indication that we were in great form throughout the year. If it wasn't for that group of guys pushing each other then we wouldn't have had near the success that we had.
Another memory of that season was that I had never really competed in XC as a college student. I didn't run cross as a freshman, I was injured as a sophomore, and traveled abroad as a junior. Despite all of that, I had success on the track before my senior year and Coaches Goldhammer, Beck and Rossi had a ton of confidence in me that I could excel at XC too. It was overwhelming because I ran mostly the 800 up to that point on the track and 8K seemed like an insane distance. But, slowly, I built up my mileage and confidence and bought into the idea that the coaches had been trying to get me to realize...that I could achieve at a high level. Through getting physically stronger with the team and the coaches believing in me, I became addicted to the challenge of being the best I could be.
After the regional meet that I won prior to nationals, I told Goldhammer that I thought I could win at Nationals, too. I really had no idea what I was talking about because I was still so green at XC but I think he believed it too. This assertion was probably a little naive, but that was how incredibly strong I felt. It was a pretty amazing feeling.
As far as the national race itself, there are a few things that I remember. The first is that I hung near the front for most of the race and as the pack started to string out there was a guy that I had raced against a few times from Willamette (I think that it was Jake Stout). Anyways, he was pretty strong, but I remember that slowly he just couldn't hang anymore. The fact that we were dropping guys, particularly a guy that I knew was one of the best in the country (he was 5th that year), was pretty exhilarating.
Second, and maybe my favorite memory of the race because this had never happened to me before or after in my entire running career, including my post-collegiate PRs, was that my arms started to go numb. I can vividly remember not having feelings in both of my arms and hands. It wasn't like they were dead weight, but it was an eerie sensation that I was literally running for as hard as I could for as long as I could. It was almost as if my body didn't have the resources to provide oxygen or blood to the parts of my body that weren't necessary to keep me moving forward. I had run hard countless times up to that point and ran hard countless times after that race, but this was an incredible feeling that I only experienced that one time. Something about that sensation gave me an extra sense of confidence that it wasn't naive to think that I could win.
The next thing is that the eventual winner, JB Haglund, was interviewed after the race and said something to the effect of "I knew that the guy behind me was an 800 meter runner so I knew that I had to hang on to win." It wasn't that close of a finish at all and he pulled away at some point and I wasn't able to go with him. I can't remember when he left us or me but he was definitely going to be the winner. The cool thing about it was that I was at least in his head a little bit, even though I didn't even have a chance to beat him.
Finally, after finishing, I remember running back to watch the rest of the team finish. I was thrilled to be a fan cheering for our guys to finish strong. Ultimately, it wasn't the overall finish that we wanted as a team, but I think that we were proud to be each other's teammates. It was a special group to run with.
2001 Men's Cross Country Roster
Head Coach: John Goldhammer
Assistant Coaches: Kelly Beck, Carl Rossi
Raul Alcantar (So., CMC)
Kevin Andrew (So., HMC)
Brian Bentow (Fr., HMC)
William Berriel (Jr., HMC)
Dan Beutel (Jr., HMC)
Jose Gomez (Jr., CMC)
David Juiliano (Sr., CMC)
Nathan Kurtz (Jr., CMC)
Matt MacLeod (Jr., CMC)
Patrick McGrail (Jr., CMC)
Matt Mock (Fr., HMC)
Dan Phiffer (Sr., HMC)
Chris Raub (So., HMC)
2002 Men's Track and Field Roster
Head Coach: John Goldhammer
Assistant Coach: Kelly Beck
Kevin Andrew (So., Distance, HMC)
Scott Aster (Sr., Middle Distance, CMC)
John Bausch (So., Pole Vault, CMC)
Scott Bennett (Fr., Throws, CMC)
Brian Bentow (Fr., Distance/Throws, HMC)
William Berriel (Jr., Distance, HMC)
Scott Bowen (Sr., Middle Distance, CMC)
Eric Brinkert (Fr., Hurdles, CMC)
Pat Elfelt (So., Jumps, CMC)
Les Fletcher (So., Hurdles/Sprints, HMC)
Ryan Gibson (Jr., Hurdles/Javelin, HMC)
Jose Gomez (Jr., Distance, CMC)
Kendall Grant (Sr., Sprints, CMC)
David Juiliano (Sr., Middle Distance, CMC)
Kevin Kam (So., Sprints, CMC)
Chris Kelley (Fr., Middle Distance, CMC)
Bert Landry (So., Throws, CMC)
Alex Lecky (Fr., Sprints, CMC)
Scott Lerner (Jr., Distance, CMC)
David Lipke (Fr., Jumps, HMC)
Roman Marenin (Fr., Sprints/Hurdles, CMC)
Pat McGrail (Jr., Distance, CMC)
Stephen Miller (Jr., Jumps, CMC)
Travis Nagunst (Sr., Hurdles, CMC)
Chris Raub (So., Distance, HMC)
Aaron Rubin (Sr., Throws, CMC)
Ben Scott (Jr., Middle Distance, CMC)
Mike Sullivan (So., Jumps, CMC)
Dante Tolbert (So., Sprints/Jumps, CMC)
Ting-Haw Tu (Fr., Sprints, CMC)
Chris Zarzana (So., Distance, HMC)