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Q & A With Men's Cross Country Senior Dan Futrell
Sept. 16, 2004 With the 2004 cross country season just underway GoZags.com spent a few minutes with senior men's runner Dan Futrell to get his thoughts on the upcoming season and his experiences running at GU. Futrell helped the Gonzaga men's team place second in the 2003 WCC Championships earning honorable mention All-WCC honors. A member of the Gonzaga ROTC squad, the California native is also an avid competitor in duathlons. Futrell is currently on track to graduate with a marketing degree and hopes to help guide Gonzaga to its second straight NCAA West Regional appearance. Q: You are entering your senior season running cross country at Gonzaga, what expectations do you have for yourself and the team during your final season? Last year was a really great year for us in terms of individual and team results. We have returned this year with six of our top seven guys, and some of the new guys are really stepping it up. We placed second in the WCC last year behind Portland, who have dominated for as long as the conference has been around. As a team, we are prepared to challenge Portland. As for individual goals, I hope to help my team by placing top-ten at Conference and by lowering the gap between our top three and next four runners. Q: Last year you helped the Bulldogs finish second in the West Coast Conference and return to the NCAA Tournament. Explain what type of experience you had running in your first NCAA Championship event? Before last season, it had been about eight years since the men's team had competed at NCAA Regionals. Our main preparation for the season was for WCC's, so when we were able to advance to Regionals in Portland, it was like a bonus for the season, an extra chance to see how competitive we were on a larger scale. I was and still am very disappointed about my race that day, and I think most of us didn't compete at our potential. The Regional Championship course this year is in Fresno on the same course where I finished my high school running career at the State Championships. It's kind of ironic that I'll be finishing my Collegiate career there, but I like the course and am very much looking forward to it. Q: You are originally from Santa Clara, Calif. Why did you choose to attend Gonzaga instead of one of the WCC schools located in the Bay Area? I went to Bellarmine Prep, an all-guys Jesuit school in San Jose. Although not very religious, I knew that I wanted to go to a Jesuit University because I liked the Jesuit style of teaching the whole person. I applied to Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, U. of San Francisco, and Gonzaga. SCU is about five blocks from my house and I wanted to go somewhere a bit farther away. I didn't want to live in a big city like L.A. or San Francisco, and I had never visited Gonzaga or Spokane. The pictures in the brochure looked nice though, so I gave it a shot. Since I've been here I have had the opportunity to meet great people and join a strong ROTC program. I'm very happy that I chose to come up here.
Q: Runners often listen to music to motivate themselves during training runs. What music do you listen to when training? Well, I don't really listen to music while running, but I often have songs going through my head, so I'll tell you about that. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Franz Ferdinand. Ryan Anderson has me hooked on `em. I'm also a fan of "Fitty Cent", Matchbox 20, AC/DC, and pretty much all eighties rock. Q: You are also a competitive athlete in duathlons, which incorporates running and bike riding. Which of those two events do you prefer when competing in a duathlon? Riding and running are really different. I get different enjoyment out of riding that I can't get from running, and vice versa. There's a highway near home called Highway 9. I have the road sign, legally obtained of course, hung up on my wall. There's a section of it that climbs seven miles at about a seven percent grade. Riding up Hwy 9 in 90 degree heat and then turning around at the top to cruise down the windy road at about 40mph is a feeling you can never get running. And running through a tight tree-covered singletrack at a 5:05/mile pace thinking you're about to fall over any second and that you're legs can't possibly turn over any faster is a feeling you just can't get riding. ...I like `em both. Q: Any chance of adding swimming and competing in triathlons? Absolutely. I really love competition and the training that goes into it. I love seeing progress from one race to the next, from one season to the next. I'm kind of a nerd with keeping track of and analyzing my race results. After my running career at Gonzaga is over, I am going to turn my attention wholly towards triathlons. Since I've been at GU, I haven't really ridden much because I want to focus on cross country and I don't see that riding is going to help my running as much as just plain running will. After graduation though, I'll give myself some time off and then start training for a triathlon full on. I'd like to eventually work up to an Ironman. Q: As a runner at Gonzaga you have had the opportunity to run on some pretty unique courses. What has been your favorite course to run on during your Bulldogs career? I think everyone on the team could easily answer this question for me. There's a course in Belmont, California called Crystal Springs where we race our Conference Championships every year. This course is about 45 minutes from my house and was my League Championship course in high school. I've raced there about 15 times since my freshman year of high school and it's definitely my favorite. The ground is this dry California dirt and there's a smell of the wild bushes all around the course; it's awesome. I was pretty excited when the team arrived there for WCC's my freshman year and I didn't hide it. I had a digital camera with me with which I took many, many photos of the course while jogging the day before the race. It's since turned into a sort of team joke. On our return trips, I've toned it down a little and focused more on the upcoming race, but I still get goosebumps when I first get to the course. Q: Finally, with graduation and the real world right around the corner - what does life after Gonzaga have in store for Dan Futrell? Well, I joined the ROTC program here my freshman year. I was awarded a scholarship and in return, signed up for four years of service. I'd like to fly helicopters in the Army, but I have to wait until November to see if I get it. Whatever I'll be doing, I am looking forward to the opportunities and experiences I have ahead of me. If I decide that I'd like to try something else after four years, I'll have a marketing degree to fall back on or maybe I could start a business of my own. Either way, some sort of athletics will still be a part of my life.
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