WATCH: Short's 2016 Championships Preview
SAN FRANCISCO – The latest West Coast Conference champion Don, Alex Short, is ready to put it all on the line this Saturday, in the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Contested at the LaVern Gibson Championships Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind., for the 12th time since 2002, Short is familiar with the terrain, and the pomp and circumstance surrounding the pinnacle race of the year. Last season, he qualified as an individual in the field, but unfortunately, failed to finish the 10,000 meter course. And this season, he's already expunged some of those demons by taking seventh individually at the Pre-National Championships on Oct. 15.

"I desperately would love to become an All-American, but I said that last year and then I didn't finish," reflected Short before beginning the trek to Indiana, "so I feel like I'm going to give that one a wide berth. We don't want to raise any dark demons from the past up … I'm just going to be relaxed, I'm just going to try and have as much fun as I can. 

"The one common underlying theme of all the races I've run this year, and all the races that I've done well in, was that I stood on the start line completely relaxed, not thinking about what I was going to get from this race, not thinking about what would happen if I won, what would happen if I lost – just going into the race and just putting everything on the line.

"Going with the moves, letting the moves go if I thought they needed to be let gone and then basically just going ham the last 1 kilometer and seeing where I end up. Whether I finish, I don't know, 200th or whether I finish, well I don't think I'm going to finish first, but let's say second, it will be irrelevant as long as I know that I've gotten the best out of myself on the day."

Short followed up his Pre-Nats performance by handily winning the WCC title getting the best out of himself and the course in San Diego on Oct. 28. He then took on the stacked West Region field last weekend to come away as the fourth man to cross the line to earn his spot back in the championship field.

"Alex has now shown in his three back-to-back performances – Pre Nats, the conference meet and NCAA West Regionals – that he is the real deal," noted USF head coach Helen Lehman-Winters. "He had success on this course at PreNats a month ago and has gained a lot of confidence in the past two outings. He is a year older with NCAA experience under his belt and has never been more motivated than he is right now."

Short will toe the line in the 2016 NCAA Championships on Saturday at 9 a.m. PT, and the race will be streamed by FloTrack Pro. A free 7-Day trial is available to watch LIVE Saturday.

In the meantime, check out his take on the race now, and learn more about him in this installment of Know Your Dons. An ongoing feature on USFDons.com, Know Your Dons is designed to personalize the student-athletes from the University of San Francisco. From Bicknacre, England, meet Alex Short.

Student Life
Favorite spot on campus: LOMO (Lone Mountain)
Favorite class: Financial Econometrics- it's not too hard
Hardest class: Graduate Microeconomics- the lecturer is trick to understand
Favorite place to study on campus: Library at LOMO
Balancing the demands of school and your sport: Is fine. My schedule is not very taxing
What experience made the biggest impact on you in the classroom? Revising with my dad for the first exams in high school. Was painfully hard work, and there was zero room for error.
The best thing about USF is: The time to do things I want to do on top of lectures
 
Pop Culture
Favorite TV show: Suits- legit best show ever made by anyone ever
Favorite movie: Pursuit of Happyness- kills me everytime
Last book you read: The Snowball- biography of Warren Buffett. He was the man.
Favorite singer or band: Michael Buble- he has tones that have the perfect combo of nostalgia and Christmas
What's on your iPOD: A lot of tropical house and timmy turner by Designer
 
Team
Top skill: Work ethic
One thing you are always working on: My cheeseboard abs
One skill of one of your teammates you wish you had: Christian's teeth cleaning ability. His teeth are whiter than Ryan's skin
Pre-game rituals or superstitions before events: Drinking honey
Funniest teammate: Definitely not Hugh
Favorite bonding moment with your team: Rope swinging in Tahoe
 
Sports
Sports teams I follow: West Ham United
Favorite athlete: Haile Gebrselassie or Roger Bannister
Favorite athletic memory: Seeing Mo Farah win the 5000m at the London Olympics
Biggest sports thrill: Winning Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Cross Country match
My second-best sport: Table Tennis, am a wizard with the paddle
Sport I'm the worst at: Sumo wrestling- their calves weigh more than me
Earliest sports memory: Playing football with my dad in the garden
First sport you ever played: Football
 
Food and Travel
Favorite meal: Avocado pasta- I have it twice a day, every day. Probs a 12/10
Favorite ethnic cuisine: Japanese sushi. If avocado pasta wasn't so good, I'd eat this twice a day
Favorite snack food: Oatcakes
Guilty pleasure: Apple pies
Least favorite food: Watermelon- just has such a weak taste.
If I had to cook all of my meals, I'd survive on: I do cook all my meals, and I survive on avocado pasta all the time
Who is the best cook on the team: Definitely Christian- the man is a magician with a pan and some basic veg
If stranded on an island, what would you bring with you: A library, a telescope, a snooker table
Most interesting place you've ever visited: Stonehenge. Just a group of big ass rocks that were assembled by cavemen in England. A surreal place.
Place you'd most like to visit someday: Iceland
Favorite place in San Francisco: Japanese tea garden or Fisherman's wharf
Describe your perfect day in San Francisco: Waking up, running for 20mins, eating avocado pasta, doing some reading and work, go to downtown, stroll around, have dinner at Fisherman's Wharf, stroll around as the sun sets, go watch a film, come home and sleep. The dream.
 
This and That
Pick three words to describe yourself: A hard-working, competitive individual with a great jawline
Early riser or night owl: Have a huge love/hate relationship with early morns, but need them to function, so early riser
Favorite saying: "In the end everything will be alright, if it's not alright it's not the end"- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Person I'd most like to meet: Warren Buffett
Talent I wish I had: Be good at gymnastics
Role models: Defo my mum and dad
My parents were right when they said: "You need to tidy your room or we'll throw everything out." … they threw everything out.
Things I collect: Money
In 10 years, I'd like to be: Earning a lot of money, with a lush house and a fresh family.
If I could trade places with someone for a day, it would be: Anyone in the slums of a third world country. Just to see what they have to go through
Three people from history you'd like to have dinner with: Nikola Tesla, Muhammad Ali, Henry Ford
Pet peeves: Change
Cats or dogs: Dogs
Best advice you've ever received and who was it from: "If you want something go get it"- Will Smith
Tell us about your hometown: it's perfect. Green countryside and incredible calmness. With a crime rate lower than Johnny English's IQ
 
In your own words, describe the student-athlete experience at USF: It's just what I expected. A lot of focus and juggling of commitments, along with a repetitiveness that has to be accepted. The extra freedom and time outside of running (compared to studying in England) to work as you want and do what you want is extremely lush.