UH CROSS COUNTRY
COURTESY OF UH
UH's Chantelle Laan won her first three cross country races this season and has led Hawaii in all five events.
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Laan hits her stride
The runner says UH has a good shot at winning the WAC
CHANTELLE Laan is making up for lost time this fall, and her times on five cross country courses prove it.
The redshirt junior has been the top Rainbow Wahine runner in all five events the team has participated in this year. She won three local races to start the season and finished a respectable 28th and 15th in consecutive mainland meets with much larger fields.
Her next challenge is the Western Athletic Conference championships, a 5-kilometer race Saturday at Fresno State.
LAAN'S 2006 RESULTS
CHAMINADE INVITATIONAL
Sept. 2
» 1st, 5K, 19:02
UH BIG WAVE INVITATIONAL
Sept. 16
» 1st, 4K, 15:05
BYUH INVITATIONAL
Sept. 23
» 1st, 5K, 18:37
SALEM (ORE.) INVITATIONAL
Sept. 30
» 28th, 5K, 18:22
SANTA CLARA INVITATIONAL
Oct. 14
» 15th, 5K, 18:08
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"This is a good team. Surprisingly, this year they do what they are supposed to do at the right time," said assistant coach Gerry Lindgren. "Chantelle does it better than anyone else. In a tough race, she just takes off and makes it not a tough race.
"We have a fairly good chance of winning the WAC if we execute well."
Laan did not run cross country last fall due to a stress fracture of her left fibula. She returned to action in the spring, running 1,500-, 3,000- and 5,000-meter events for the Wahine track team.
"Most likely it was just an over-use injury. When you miss a season you really are out two years," said Laan, who ran a personal best of 18 minutes, 8 seconds at the 5-kilometer Santa Clara Invitational on Oct. 14.
Rather than return to her London, Ontario, home last summer, Laan stayed in Hawaii to work with Lindgren.
"We worked on just getting her back into good shape, working the legs, building up strength," Lindgren said.
Laan said, "I really have confidence in Gerry's training. Our first meet is two weeks after school starts so you have to get your work in during the summer.
"Gerry is not a traditional coach. I like to know who my competition is, but he isn't into that. He tells me to get out in front and leave the rest of them behind. His teachings are working fine and I'm going to keep doing that."
Laan has run the course at Fresno twice -- the first time when she was 13 and her family lived in Rockland, Calif., for a year before returning to Canada.
That also was the year Rockland High School's cross country team came to Hawaii to participate in the Kamehameha Invitational.
"I won the JV race and received a letter from Johnny Faerber (the UH cross country coach at that time), but I wasn't able to respond because of my age," Laan said.
With encouragement from her older brother, Brandon, who competes for Hawaii Pacific, Laan began running seriously in the ninth grade. Prior to that she had run one race a year to fulfill a physical education class requirement.
"Brandon has always excelled. He is probably my best friend and my role model in terms of running," Laan said.
She won the Western Ontario Secondary School Association cross country championship as a senior. Laan received recruiting letters from East Coast schools and the University of Western Ontario.
"I found the letter UH had sent a long time back in a box and e-mailed Carmyn (James, UH head coach) in late May or early June and asked her if my times were up to par," Laan said.
"She said they were, so I signed (a letter of intent), then made the (official) trip out here. I came here thinking I would stay for a year and see how it goes."
She won the San Francisco Invitational her freshman year and had the top UH time in three races. Laan had three top-five finishes as a sophomore and participated in the NCAA West Regional for the second consecutive year.
After the year off, Laan is enjoying her most successful season this fall.
"Chantelle's strength is she has a whole lot of courage. She just goes out and runs with her heart," Lindgren said. "Sometimes she gets a little conservative, but if she goes out and gets ahead of the other runners, then she doesn't have to look at anyone."
Laan is majoring in business and will graduate in May. She will continue in graduate school at UH in upper administrative education. Her career goal is to become an athletic director.
She plans to keep running when her college eligibility is done.
"The beauty of cross country is the longevity of the sport. There are road races just about every weekend in a city like this," Laan said.