Northern Arizona had their best finish in 18 years (2nd in 1995).  Coach Heins is developing his own reputation with consistent high finishes by teams and individuals.  More top recruits are heading to Flagstaff every year and this program may challenge for a trophy or title every year.

Adam Schneider - (AS) - Tell me about the morning of the meet and pre-race. 
Eric Heins - (EH) - Things were pretty status quo, but the guys were a little more focused, which is to be expected at the biggest race of the year.

AS - Tell us about the race  (They had the lead at the 4k, 6k and 8k splits) 
EH - Things went almost to plan – Futsum and Matt got out into the top 30 by the 1k mark, Brian did not get out as well and had to work most of the way to get into the top 30. Josh and Nathan were together by the end and pushed each other into the finish.

AS - How did you feel after the race?
EH - Extremely proud of this team. Also my hats off to Colorado running a well executed race and taking the win over the last 2000m.  It does sting a little bit to have the national title so close, but these guys ran great and represented the University in a first class manner. For them to handle the pressure of being ranked number 1 and put their best effort out on the course says a lot about this group and their character. They are a class act.

AS - You came into this race ranked #1 although you were not favored.  What did you learn from this race?
EH - Honestly we have come to accept that role as the underdog and it gives the team a little extra motivation to run well at nationals. Since 2007 we have finished ahead of our coaches poll ranking except for this year (ranked 1 - finished 2) and 2011 (ranked 13 - finished 14). This was a tough race to learn a lot from. We ran a great race and got beat by a very good team. I think we approached it the best way we could and the guys handled the conditions great.