Walsh to Have the Run of the Course as CSUN Enters Division II Final

Of all the sports in the world, perhaps none is quite as simple and at the same time as strange as cross-country. Basically, the sport consists of people in their underwear running through the woods. And yet, the participants are nearly always as serious and grim-faced as a zoo employee whose job it is to brush the grizzly bear’s teeth after each meal.

Dave Walsh of Cal State Northridge is a bit different. He can be as stoic as the rest of the runners just before a race. Or he can be in one of his goofy moods, popping the capped front tooth from his mouth and pacing back and forth on the starting line, smiling a wonderful jack-o-lantern smile at anyone who glances over.

“I’m serious most of the time,” he said. “But sometimes I just have to make myself laugh to keep loose and to relax.”

That is why Walsh is a bit different from most cross-country runners. That and the fact that most of the time he beats the short pants off his opponents.

On Saturday, Walsh leads a seven-man CSUN contingent against 16 other schools in the NCAA Division II cross-country championship at Lake Perris in Riverside County. The 10,000-meter course is one Walsh knows well. He romped over it in 31 minutes, 34 seconds on Nov. 8 to win the NCAA West Regional.

He is the only CSUN runner to win the regional, and it put him among six or seven runners from around the country who are considered the top threats to win the NCAA individual title. Walsh also won the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship meet on Nov. 1.

Walsh, a 23-year-old sophomore, graduated from Canyon High in 1981 and attended Clackamas College in Oregon City, Ore., for one year. He quit school after his freshman year, however, and in 1983 and 1984 Walsh the runner became Walsh the skier. He enrolled at Ventura College last year, resumed competitive running and placed fourth in the state junior college championships at 5,000 meters. And he also caught the attention of CSUN Coach Don Strametz.

“We had a chance to talk on the phone a few times and talk about our philosophies of running,” Strametz said. “He had plenty of other offers, but the main reason he decided to come to CSUN was that he agreed with my training methods.”

Those training methods, Strametz said, consist largely of him being smart enough to know when to pull in the reins on his runners.

“When they’re hurt or dinged up or just overly sore, you have to know when to scrap the day’s training program, when to just throw it out the window and let their bodies rest,” Strametz said.

With a combination of his own intense dedication--sometimes churning out a hard 90 miles a week--and Strametz’s wise counseling, Walsh has emerged as one of the best distance runners in Division II. But on Saturday, for the first time in his life, he goes up against a strong and swift group of runners from around the nation.

Heading the field is the defending champion, Sampson Obwocha of Nigeria and East Texas State. Also back from the 1985 race is Sam Cheruiyot of Mt. St. Mary’s College in New Hampshire, who finished fourth a year ago, fifth-place finisher Derek Janczewski of Ashland, Wis., and Rod DeHaven of South Dakota State, the ninth-place finisher in 1985.

“To be honest, I don’t know what to think about these guys,” Walsh said. “This is all so new to me. It’s certainly the biggest race of my life and I’m sure I’m up against the best runners I’ve ever faced. But I’ve been very happy this year with my ability not to be influenced by other people in a race. In the regionals I faced guys from Washington and Oregon and California, guys with big reputations, and I beat all of them.

“In the regional meet and the CCAA meet, I honestly don’t feel I was pushed by anyone. I won one race by 25 seconds and the other by 23. I ran 31:34 to win the regional, and I know that I’ll run faster than that Saturday.”

Walsh keeps a running log at his home, compiling notes from his workouts, comments on his health and goals. For the Division II final he has entered these words: “Finish in the top 10. Run sub-31 minutes.”

“In reality, I’m afraid that if I run under 31 minutes I’ll finish in the top five,” he said. “That’s kind of scary. But I really think I can run in the top five. I have a tremendous advantage in having run the course. These guys from the East and Midwest have been training in cold and ice and snow and run mostly on golf courses. The course at Lake Perris is not a golf course. It’s hilly and sandy. It’s a desert course.”

Walsh, in only his first year of competition at this level, may not win Saturday’s race. But his coach insists Walsh will not be embarrassed.

“You have to be tough enough mentally to be able to adjust your goals as the race develops,” Strametz said. “Dave is as tough as they come, mentally. If he can’t win the race, he’s tough enough to know it and to adjust to it.

“If one of the Nigerians or one of the other real top runners breaks him on the course, he is tough enough to be able to say to himself, ‘OK, maybe I can’t win the race. But I can still be the top American. Or I can still be in the top five.’ Dave will make a fine showing, I’m sure of it.”