An Interview with Stanford's Chris Derrick

Derrick placed fourth overall in the men's white race at the NCAA Pre-Nationals (Tim O'Dowd)

As a high school senior, Chris Derrick accomplished some big things.  The Neuqua Valley High School (Naperville, IL) standout led his team to a national title at Nike Team Nationals with a first place finish, while placing second at the Foot Locker National Championships a week later in San Diego.  In the spring Derrick won the 5,000m run at the Arcadia Invitational, running a U.S. #6  all-time performance in 13:55.96.  A few weeks later Derrick cut his season short after coming down with a bout of mono.

Healthy and training well, Derrick entered Stanford University this fall.  With a new coach (Jason Dunn), a talented list of teammates and the motivation to improve upon last fall's 19th place finish at NCAA XC Nationals, Derrick and his Cardinal teammates lept into this season with a renewed sense of optimism.  At Pre-Nationals two weeks ago Stanford crushed their competition in the White Race, winning the team title with 77 points, while Derrick placed second for his squad with a fourth place finish in 23:37.

Trackshark spoke with Derrick this week, leading up to the Pac-10 Championships and less then a month away from the NCAA XC Championships.  See what he has to say about his transition to collegiate running, how his classes are going and the goals moving forward for both himself and the Stanford squad.