Llano finishes 176th at cross country nationals

During the most important race of his life, junior Matt Llano had some bad luck physically and faced adverse weather conditions, resulting in a 176th place finish out of a field of 252 at the NCAA National Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday.

Llano was the first runner from Richmond to qualify for nationals in 29 years. Josephine White was the last Richmond runner to make it to nationals in 1981. The last male from Richmond to reach the race was in 1979 when two runners -- Hillary Tuwei and Sosthenes Bitok- ran for the Spiders.

"It was an honor to have gotten there," Llano said after the race. "Hopefully it's the first of many NCAA appearances."

Llano finished the 10-kilometer race with a time of 31 minutes, 29.6 seconds. At last week's NCAA Southeast Regional Championship -- also a 10K race -- he posted a time of 30:28.6, qualifying for nationals. That race may have had an adverse effect on Llano's running at nationals.

"Physically, I didn't feel good [during nationals]," he said. "To come back a week after [the Southeast Regionals] is tough. Running a 10K takes a lot out of you. I would have liked to have an extra week for recovery. I am used to racing every other week."

The race conditions were cold, windy and wet after rain drenched the course Sunday night -- factors that may have slowed Llano down. He said he tended to run better when the weather was hot and dry.

Overall, the race was very competitive between Galen Rupp, a senior from the University of Oregon, and Samuel Chelanga, a sophomore from Liberty University, both of whom were virtually tied for the lead from about 4 kilometers to 9.5 kilometers of the race. By the end, Rupp edged out Chelanga with a time of 29:03.2. Chelanga finished five seconds behind Rupp.

"It was probably one of the best NCAA races I've ever seen," Richmond coach Steve Taylor said. "I think [Llano] ran well. We knew the competition level would be pretty extreme. He ran very respectably."

The race was the most competitive and high-profile of Llano's career. He said he had never been at a race where people had lined up on both sides of the course to cheer on the runners.

"I didn't do anything different [before the race] than any other day," Llano said. "The whole atmosphere was awesome. Everywhere on the course there was a wall of people screaming. To have the crowd yelling ... to know that I am in the NCAAs, that helped me to keep going."

To make it to nationals was a goal of Llano's, and he said he had worked hard to qualify for it. He spent all of last summer in North Carolina in the mountains training with some teammates, and during the school year, Llano would finish school work early to get plenty of sleep at night, his coach said.

"He has been an example to our team," Taylor said. "This is the sacrifice it takes to achieve greatness. He's not only an example for the men's team, but also the women's team."

Llano said he usually did not go over his races in-depth right away, but he still had some initial reactions about the way he ran at nationals.

"It was a little disappointing," Llano said. "My goal was to place a little higher. I feel good in that I got good experience."

There are loftier goals for both Llano and Taylor headed into next year.

"I have no doubt that it won't be just Matt next year [in nationals]," Taylor said. "Hopefully it's both the men's and women's team next year."

Contact reporter Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu. Collegian staff writer and photographer Dan Petty reported from Terre Haute, Ind.