River Hawks’ Paul Hogan Ready To Run For NCAA Championship

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The nation's best cross country runners will compete Saturday in Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky for the NCAA 10k Cross Country Championship and UMass Lowell senior distance runner Paul Hogan (Burlington, Mass.) will be there.

"I'm looking forward to it," said Hogan. "It's been a goal of mine for a long time. I've been thinking about it ever since I was a freshman."

With the transition to full Division I status complete, this is the first year that UMass Lowell cross country athletes have been eligible for the NCAA Championships.

Hogan, the America East cross country champion, earned his shot at a national title with a fourth place finish at the NCAA Northeaster Regional in Amherst, N.Y. a week ago.

"He's earned it, he deserves to be there," according to UMass Lowell Head Coach Gary Gardner. "He is one of the better cross country runners in the country."

The field consists of 31 seven-member teams and 38 additional runners who qualified individually for the event. Of the teams, 18 were automatic qualifiers, 13 were chosen at large. Neither UMass Lowell team, men or women, will compete on Saturday.

"If he just races, mentally and physically, the way he has at the conference meet and last week at the regional meet he'll be right there," said Gardner. "Whether he can finish in the top 40 or not, he'll be in the hunt."

The top 40 finishers earn All-America status. That's the goal for Hogan and he believes that he is ready.

"Oh yeah, I'm definitely ready, I know that for a fact," said Hogan. "Every run I go on I feel great. I feel like a new self. It's all the work that I've done over the summer, all the workouts; I've been doing all the right things, eating right, sleeping well. Everything I could be doing that's good for running, I've been doing."

"He's a very intense young man and an intense worker and does everything to a tee," said Gardner. "Whether it's sleep, whether it's eating, whether it's taking care of himself...all of that he does extremely well."

Recent history suggests that Hogan runs his best when he runs from the front. He took that approach at both the America East Championships and the NCAA Northeast Regional. Gardner says Hogan likes to run "aggressive and be near the front." The plan is to get out in the top 25 and hang there and then grind it out over the last 3k. The difference between 25 and 50 may be no more than eight-seconds according to the coach.

"I've got to run may race," says Hogan. "I like to go out a little bit faster and stay at a consistent pace. When I run my own race I run well because that's when I run confident."

The Championship race is a 10k, equal to the regional distance but some 2,000-meters longer than the conference championship meet. Hogan likes the longer challenge.

"I'm more passionate when it comes to the longer distances," according to Hogan. "It's natural for me. I love running endurance events; it's something that's part of me. It brings out the best in me. I go mile by mile and when it starts to hurt I don't back off."

The course at Tom Sawyer Park is considered relatively flat. The weather is expected to be chilly and windy. There is a chance of rain and the possibility of thunder and lightning. Because of the concerns about the weather, the starting times for the races have been moved up. The men, now, are expected to be at the starting line at 10:00am.

River Hawks’ Paul Hogan Ready To Run For NCAA Championship

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