Fresh leaders of the pack

The triple threat of David Berglund, Michael Hague, and Mike Demarest are leading the cross country team in unusual fashion. Besides being the three fastest runners on the team, these players are a unique combination of cultures.

The three have finished in the same order the first two races of the season. Berglund finishes first and Hague and Demarest round out the top three. Coach Joe Samprone understands why.

“They are the fastest,” he said.

The three runners feed off one another and they encourage one another.

“The first one to finish congratulates the second one and so on,” Samprone said.

Each of them also competes with each to be the fastest.

“The young men are very disciplined, dedicated runners who love to run,” Samprone said.

Samprone uses a certain system to train his runners. Mondays, the team practices hill work at Little Fishing Creek Golf Course. On Tuesdays, the team practices speed at the Baldwin High School track. Wednesdays, the team works on distance at the Bartram Forest Reserve. The rest of the week Samprone lets the players practice on their own and relax.

Behind the speed of each of these runners is rich culture such as nationality, religion and superstition.

Freshman David Berglund is from Sweden. David has been running cross country for about 10 months. In Sweden, he played soccer and Bandi, a Swedish sport that is a combination between soccer and ice hockey.

One day, while conditioning for soccer on the track, a coach noticed his speed and asked if he would be interested in track. Berglund gave it a shot and started running track. The decision led to him being recruited to be on the cross country team at Georgia College & State University.

Upon coming to the United States, Berglund noticed how different American society is from Swedish society.

“Everything is bigger in the United States, the cars, the people, etc,” he said.

He tells of an experience at the supermarket when he was looking for a small bag of M&Ms. He said they had small, medium, large and extra large bags. This was very strange to him. Berglund also said the weather here is a lot hotter and more humid, but he has found the campus to be welcoming.

“The best part about GC&SU though is that the people are so friendly,” said Berglund. “Especially the girls, and Joe [a teammate] is a big energy source.”

Freshman Michael Hague is from Lilburn. He has been running cross country for four years.

“I enjoy running cross-country for the self-satisfaction I feel at the end of each day,” said Hague.

Hague received a scholarship from GC&SU to run cross country, but his favorite part about GC&SU cross country is the girls.

“It gets the ladies,” said Hague.

Hague has a couple superstitions. Before each race he runs a mile. Then he picks up some grass off the ground and puts it on his head.

“It’s a spiritual thing,” he said.

Hague runs each race a little bit faster than he should go. His teammates are very important in the way he runs.

“The presence of them around me gives me purpose and makes me want to live,” said Hague.

Freshman Michael Demarest is from Dacula, Ga. He has been running cross country since his sophomore year in high school.

“I like the challenge and the feeling of beating others,” said Demarest.

Demarest runs a mile and a couple of 50m sprints before each race to warm-up. He then gets a good stretch and takes five minutes to say a prayer and seclude himself from everything. He gets along very well with his teammates.

“If I’m getting tired, they encourage me and make me go faster,” Demarest said.

The cross country team is expecting big improvements from last year. The conference meet is Oct. 23 and they are making good progress.

“The top five is changing each race,” said Samprone.

The team is filled with experience. Most of the runners have run before in high school. High school cross country is 5k, whereas in college it is 8k.

“The runners are adjusting well to this change. They run close together, which is very important,” said Samprone.

In cross country the first runner to finish gets one point ,the second gets two points and so on. At the end, the scores are added together and the team with the lowest score wins. Therefore, it is good if the runners finish close to each other.

Last year the men finished last in the conference and with the addition of Berglund, Demarest and Hague look to finish stronger.

“This year we are hoping for the men to finish third or better,” said Samprone.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 1 2004. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry