There were times during her final cross country season when Florida State's Susan Kuijken would look at her workout plan for the day and know it was more difficult than last year. When she talked to coach Karen Harvey about it, she had one request.
Make it harder.
Kuijken has one last goal in her collegiate career: the NCAA individual cross country title that so far has eluded her. She already has NCAA track titles in the outdoor 1,500-meter and indoor 3,000-meter runs, and she's finished third and second, respectively, in the 2007 and 2008 cross country championships. When she leads her eighth-ranked FSU team into today's NCAA title meet, she'll know she's left nothing to chance for her final collegiate race.
"In cross country, everything comes together," she said. "The best 800 (meter) runners are there, the best 1,500, the best 3K, 5K, steeple, 10K. Everything comes together in that race, so if you win, you can really say you're the best of the best."