Cross country star running to glory

Drive and motivation are just two things coaches look for in their athletes. Jeff Small, head coach of Marshall University's cross country team, has all that and much more in sophomore Matt Schiffbauer.
Before last weekend's NCAA Regional meet in Princess Anne, Md., Schiffbauer did not finish outside the top 10 in any race.
As with every other race, Schiffbauer said he was very focused going into regionals.
"I've done a lot of homework," Schiffbauer said before the race. "It's going to be rainy and gross, so it's not going to be a fast race, just a really fast finish. I think that's going to help me out a good bit."
And it did.
Schiffbauer finished 25th at Regionals, and became only the first Marshall cross country runner to earn All-Region II honors since the university became part of region II in 1997.
Schiffbauer said competition at regionals was tough. Thirty-six colleges and universities from West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware were represented at the meet, including Villanova, Princeton and the U.S. Naval Academy.
Although he did well at the meet, Schiffbauer does not have a very long history with running. He said he did not start running until his junior year of high school.
"One of my friends talked me into it because he wanted to have a friend run with him," Schiffbauer said.
He started off poorly, he said. But instead of being discouraged, he used that as motivation.
"I hate it when people are noticeably a lot better than me," Schiffbauer said. "I was far from the best on my team. I just did it to catch up with my team."
Three other members from Schiffbauer's high school team run for Marshall. Schiffbauer said they help and motivate one another.
"We have a lot of history from back home," he said. "There's a lot of reminding each other of races and strategies. However we ordered in high school is not exactly the same now, but we use each other as posting points to see how we're doing."
Small said he has never coached a sophomore who has excelled as quickly as Schiffbauer.
"He's come a really long way," Small said. "He's progressed. Probably the only person who thought he'd be as good as he is was himself. Nobody else saw it coming."
Schiffbauer said he wants to prove himself to his high school teammates.
"It's like a revenge factor I guess," he said. "They beat me a lot in high school, so it's fun to be on the other side of it."
Despite Schiffbauer's lack of background, Small said he has taken a leadership position on the team and does the right things on and off the track.
"He brings great leadership as far as his lifestyle," Small said. "He does all the right things on the track as far as working on all aspects of running."
Small said Schiffbauer motivates other runners to do well on the track.
"He's going to try to stay with the top five guys and our guys are going to try to stay with (Schiffbauer) as long as they can," Small said.
He said other runners can learn from Schiffbauer.  
"If anybody wants to know how to get better or improve, they just have to pattern themselves after him and they will see some improvement also," Small said.

Whitney Burdette can be contacted at burdette56@marshall.edu.