MORGANTOWN — Just 3.7 miles separate Ceili (pronounced Kay-lee) McCabe from history.
That’s roughly 20 minutes of running — give or take — or about 8,300 steps.
Each step McCabe runs on Saturday at the NCAA national cross-country championships (10 a.m., ESPNU) could bring her closer to WVU’s first-ever individual national title.
“The good news is she’s healthy, focused and excited,” WVU cross-country head coach Sean Cleary said. “She knows she’s got a shot.”
A shot is all McCabe needs and her chances are very realistic after having already won titles in the Big 12 and the Mid-Atlantic Regional in the weeks leading up to the national championship race.
“We’ve focused all season in our training to try and peak at the right time,” McCabe said. “We progressed well through the conference and the regional, so we’re coming in on a roll, but there’s always room for improvement.”
Brushing up
For those not familiar with McCabe, her introduction to distance running is rather unique.
Growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada, she was interested in so many sports, but distance running was not really one of them.
She played soccer, field hockey, baseball, basketball and tennis, and was likely headed to Notre Dame on a soccer scholarship.
That was until a knee injury hit her the summer before her senior year, taking both soccer and Notre Dame out of the picture.
So, she began running. McCabe had run cross-country and track before, but generally as a way to stay in shape for other sports.
Now, though, she was taking running seriously, and her results were getting better.
Cleary first spotted her at a race in Canada and saw enough potential to offer her a scholarship.
McCabe’s rise through the college ranks has been staggering.
In 2020, she took 42nd overall at NCAA nationals. Last year, she was third, missing out on second place by just two-tenths of a second to Alabama’s Mercy Chelangat.
The junior now has her sights set on winning it all.
“If you do it, it checks a lot of boxes for your career and your future,” McCabe said. “I’ve tried not to think about it too much, and I’ve put more thought into helping our team finish as high as possible. But, if it happens, it’s obviously something that can never be taken away from you. It would be a great feeling.”
The field
Last year’s winner — BYU’s Whittni Orton — is now running professionally, so McCabe and Chelangat are the top-two returners to the national field.
But, Chelangat has recently fallen behind Florida sophomore Parker Valby, who won the SEC title and was eight seconds faster than the Alabama star.
North Carolina State sophomore Katelyn Tuohy won the ACC championship, finishing 12 seconds ahead of the next finisher.
Then there is a trio of challengers from Oklahoma State — who will contend for the team title along with N.C. State and New Mexico — led by junior Taylor Roe, who was just two seconds behind McCabe at the Big 12 meet.
“In my opinion, you’re looking at a field of about nine or 10 runners who have a legitimate shot to win the race,” Cleary said. “They’ve all done the things necessary to put them in a spot to contend.
“This is probably the most talented field of runners we’ve seen at the NCAA level in a long time, maybe ever.”
Cleary hesitates to call McCabe a generational talent, but admits in some of the younger runners like Tuohy and Valby — both sophomores — that they could develop into the future of the sport.
“What makes Ceili so good is her work ethic is impeccable,” Cleary said. “When you look at how far and how fast some of the other runners in the field have come, I really believe there is some generational talent there.”
The strategy
WVU did not go and compete in what Cleary refers to as the big national meets this season, with the idea of keeping McCabe a hidden gem of sorts.
“There are probably some who are not really thinking too much about Ceili, because they haven’t really seen her this season,” Cleary said. “Obviously they know about her, but they haven’t really seen firsthand what she’s doing this year.”
And with such a strong pack of contenders, Cleary said they will bring with them different strategies.
“That’s going to be the big deal,” he said. “Who is going to start off fast? Well, we think Valby will start off hot. She likes to get the early lead and set the pace.
“What will everyone else do? Do you try and keep up or do you save it for the end? It’s going to be very interesting.”
McCabe said she’s studied up on the scouting reports of the other contenders and is familiar with their tendencies.
At some point, though, McCabe said she simply has to stay within herself and not get caught up with how everyone else is running.
“It’s a bit of both,” she said. “You have to know the strengths of the other runners, but you don’t know how they’re feeling that day. I’ll know my own skill set and I’ll know what I can do. That’s the most-important thing.”
Temperatures in Stillwater, Okla. on Saturday will be in the low 40s at the start of the race.
Cleary said the cold favors the runners with the stronger kicks at the end.
“Ceili certainly has the kick,” Cleary said. “If it’s going to come down to the last 100, 200 meters and it’s a sprint, I like her chances.”
It’s a course McCabe has previously run in past meets. She calls it “hilly,” although nothing like what she trains on in West Virginia.
Just 3.7 miles, 20 minutes and 8,300 steps, but truth is McCabe’s outlook is the final stretch.
“Those last two minutes is what it will probably come down to,” she said. “You take the course how it comes, but you get to those last two minutes and do the best you can. That’s really all you can do.”
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