• Former SVHS standout runs for Weber State
This past Saturday, former Star Valley High School standout runner, Peter Visser, ran at the NCAA Cross-Country Nationals in Charlottesville, Virginia. The 10K course had the fastest runners in the country with Visser running a 31:04.0 and placing 150th to cap off his sophomore season for the Wildcats. The Men’s field had 236 finishers with nearly 20 who did not finish overall.
He earned the trip to the Nationals with an outstanding performance at the Regionals and became just the 11th qualifier in Weber history. He earned All-Big Sky and All-Mountain Region honors for his efforts during the season.
He spoke with SVI Media the day before the race and commented on the status of his career at WSU.
“In my opinion the NCAA Nationals is the biggest cross-country race in the world,” he said. “One of the most competitive meets with international runners competing in this league. To qualify there’s a points system for teams but for individuals you have to place top 25 in your region. In the Mountain Region it’s difficult to do as one of the most competitive regions in the country.”
Visser says he is pleased with his career at Weber thus far but he has had to overcome an injury this past year which makes his trip to Nationals all the more impressive.
“I missed last track season and part of the summer with an injury and have been trying to get back to 100-percent,” he said. “I wasn’t super certain how this cross season was going to look. It wasn’t until the end of July that I was able ti put in some serious miles. To be running nationals I’m very grateful and surprised things have worked out this way. This is my first national meet and I want to just gain as much experience from it as I can.”
According to Visser he will have a quick turnaround with a race in Boston in two weeks before starting prep on the Indoor season at the beginning of January.
In the team race, Oklahoma State was able to win the team title with a score of 49 over Northern Arizona. BYU was third with Arkansas and Iowa State rounding out the top five. Individually, Harvard’s Graham Blanks won the race with a time of 28:37.7, edging New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel who finished with a time of 28:40.7.
Find the full interview with Visser online at SVInews.com under the Radio tab.
