When we [men’s and women’s cross country teams] arrived in Boone, N.C., we had been together all of about 3 weeks. Let me just that in the past both teams had trained together for at least a good solid month before the first road trip/race. The way that we encouraged each other and supported each other, you would have thought we had been together forever. We knew this season was going to be tough, but something was different. Everyone has this attitude similar to David, in the “David vs. Goliath” story. Each runner has a burning desire to be the best they can possibly be and TOGETHER we have realized that we can do it. The goal of the 2008 season has been to place well at both the Gulf South Conference and South Regional meets. The only way to do that is to face the best competition each and every meet. Every runner knew that he/she would face challenges they had never before experienced; this was understood at the beginning of the summer when we started to build our base for this long and grueling season.
In North Carolina, each runner met their first challenge as we faced some of the best Division 1 and 2 schools in the nation. If you glanced at the results, one would have thought that we were crushed, but both teams actually recorded average times faster than last years conference meet for the 8k (men) and 5k (women) distances. This has brought us one step closer to our goal.
Growing closer together as a team, we traveled down to Tampa, Fla. to compete in a 4 mile race (for the men) and 5k distance (for the women). It was at this meet that both teams could see that VSU can run with the “big dawgs.” The men finished fourth overall and the women sixth while running without one of their usual top 5 performers.
The first two meets of the season were definitely confidence boosters, but it really hasn’t been until the last two weeks that VSU cross country has begun to make an impact on the Regional rankings and gained a little respect. The men stunned many by taking fourth place at a meet at Alabama-Huntsville, running an average time of 28:27 against several of the top 10 teams in the South Region and having all seven runners under 30 minutes. As if that wasn’t enough, we made the 2 hour drive to Macon, Ga. this past Saturday to finish in ninth place out of 20 teams and dropped the average time to 28:02, with eight out of 10 runners finishing under 30 minutes and seven finishing under 29 minutes. The women competed exceptionally well at Alabama-Huntsville and Macon, as well, placing seventh and fifteenth while many running fast personal bests or coming seconds away from previous ones.
Both teams have grown very close together and it has been of the greatest help having teammates cheering and encouraging others on in practice. Everyone has a bad day every once in a while, but I think every single runner can honestly say that with the help of every team member those hard days become a little easier. The men’s and women’s cross country teams have grown into what we like to call a “brother and sisterhood.” It has been an absolutely wonderful experience growing physically, mentally, and emotionally with these men and women so far, and it is the bond that we have mended in these last two months that will guide us through this last month of training and the intensity of the final couple of meets. This is no time to settle and we will continue to do our very best to make sure that we only get better. Both teams are hungry and that is scary.
We have a weekend off and then it’s back to business. Though, we do consider it somewhat of a break, both teams will continue to train “smarter not harder” to gear up for our last three meets. The men’s and women’s cross country teams will be traveling to Orlando, Fla. for the Disney World Invitational in a week and a half and then the conference and regional meets. Look for both teams to make an impact in these meets and surprise many.