(Left to right) Chris Derrick, Brendan Gregg, Garrett Heath, and Jake Riley.

The entries on the USATF Cross Country Championships list includes many notable names, but one commonality that exists between a handful of those entered is their alma mater, Stanford University. Chris Derrick, Brendan Gregg, Garrett Heath, and Jake Riley are now members of different training groups and sponsors but once wore the Cardinal red, and they plan to meet again on the starting line Saturday in Boulder, Colo. 

 

“We are all each other’s biggest fan, but on the line, we push each other,” Heath said. 

 

While at Stanford, Heath earned nine All American honors and was a member of the 2007 distance medley relay NCAA championship team. He also worked as a volunteer assistant coach for the Stanford squad while studying to earn his PhD in management science and engineering. Heath now competes professionally as a member of the Brooks Beasts in Seattle, Wash.

 

“We make a point to get together at races, plan a meal and have a mini-reunion,” Heath said. “We all share a dream to one day put multiple Stanford guys on the World cross country team.”

Heath most recently repeated as the 4k champion at the Great Edinburgh XCountry meeting January 10, taking down a stacked field that included Kenya’s 2008 Olympic gold medalist Asbel Kiprop, World cross country champion Japhet Korir, and fellow American Dathan Ritzenhein. 

 

Between Heath, Derrick, Riley and Gregg, every runner contributed to a Stanford team that finished in the top 15 at the NCAA Championships in cross country. Heath did not overlap with Derrick, Riley and Gregg, but each runner appreciates the Stanford culture that has a pattern of breeding success during and post-collegiately. 

 

“We were really lucky to have like-minded individuals that were on the same page in college,” Gregg said. “It speaks to our coaching in college that developed long term growth.”

 

Gregg was a second team indoor and outdoor All American in the 5k in 2012, and earned All-Pac-12 second team honors along with two All-West Region honors. He now trains with the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project in Rochester Hills, Mich., and completed his first marathon last October in Chicago. 

 

“You see the success of people around you [at Stanford] and it makes you want to work that much harder, it makes it that much easier to believe it’s possible,” Gregg said. 

 

“There was obviously competitiveness you know, I step on the line and I want to beat Jake and Garrett, but when we’re training together there is no hammer each other into the ground because everyone is trying to make everybody else better,” Gregg said.

 

“Stanford taught me how to get my butt kicked,” Riley added to Gregg’s sentiment. 

 

“The level of intensity and competition there day in and day out, it’s great because they’re your friends and they’re better than you and pushing you to a higher level, and I think that’s important because post-college there’s a whole other level of competition that is even better….but I’ve been surrounded by people that are better than me in many ways, and I’ve learned how to accept that and motivate myself,” Riley explained. 

 

Now training for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project with Gregg, Riley competed for the Stanford squad and in the process earned eight All American honors, including a sixth-place individual finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2010 and third, fifth, and eighth-place finishes in the 10k at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. 

 

Riley recently captured a runner-up finish in the 8k race at the Great Edinburgh XCountry meeting, in a late surge that challenged former Stanford teammate Derrick for the win. Derrick ultimately captured his second title, but Riley closed in on his heels to help Team USA take the overall team title. 

 

“I started a little faster than was prudent and I knew that Jake had gone out more conservatively so when I didn't feel great there was a good chance he'd come back on me,” Derrick, who trains with the Bowerman Track Club in Portland, Oregon, said recalling the final stretch of the race. 

 

“There's a little creek jump with 200m to go or so and then it's downhill to the finish so I just focused on maintaining my gap to that point and then figured I could hold him on the downhill. I was definitely digging into the reserves of pride you find when you're racing a really good friend,” Derrick said.

 

No matter the outcome of the race on Saturday one thing is certain; the former teammates will push each other but at the end of the day, always meet for that post-race beer. 

 

“We wouldn’t all respect one another if we didn’t all get on the line and want to beat each other,” Heath said. “It’ll be fun, I’m going to try and beat these guys out there but if it doesn’t work out for me, I want it to work out for them.”