The hard, long 5-10 mile practices a day continue to pay off and can be reflected in our meets. Two weekends ago, we competed at the Gordon Pop Crowell Invitational, in which we placed 6th out of 26 teams. Our top seven had some excellent performances and personal best times. Sophomore Lily Rutler pr’d (personal record and set a school record) with a time of 19:07, placing fourth out of 276 runners! Close behind, Vanessa Camiolo in 30th with 20:21, Kaitlin Crowley in 32nd with 20:25 (PR!), myself in 33rd with 20:27 (PR!), Annie Cassidy in her first collegiate race placing 36th with 20:31, Lauren Ashby 49th with 20:46 (PR!) and Katie O’Koren finishing 55th with a time of 20:55. All top seven scorers ran the 5k course in less than 21 minutes, proving our depth. Salve (our rivals) managed to win the meet, and UNE snuck by us, but I’m confident we’ll get them back at conference.
Looking toward the next few big meets, Coach made the decision to sit the top 7 runners out of the Westfield State Invitational, which would give that group of girls the chance to train harder, rest from race pace, and focus on Albany and conference. Meanwhile, other ladies stepped up big at Westfield. Nina Groseclose finished first for RWU placing 86th out of 311, followed close by Hailey Wolfe, Lauren Ricardi, Katie Wilson, Leah Seyer and Michele Needham. While those racing competed, the top runners from the previous meet ran a 50 minute run around the Westfield Campus (the previous day we ran hills, which we could all definitely feel the next day!!)
Some days our legs feel great, while other days we all feel like our legs weigh over a hundred pounds a piece. Regardless, as a competitive runner, we learn to mentally push ourselves through just about anything. Coach emailed us a quote that talked about running being symbolic to life and you have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles even if you think you can’t. At the end of a race, which has proven to be the most difficult, it’s the inner strength that will mentally get you through the finish line (it’s all about fighting the pain, managing the pain, and accepting the pain; might sound kind of harsh but running takes a serious toll on our bodies!!). Coach has given us a mental guideline that’s brought us to the success we’ve had so far and I truly believe with this group of girls, we have the physical ability and competitive mentality to out run every team at conference (and defend our title!!!).
Despite some teams placing higher at meets up until now, the hard work and miles we’ve put in on a daily basis is what’s going to clinch us the title in that last mile. This weekend we have our first overnight at University of Albany, in which Coach has mentioned should be an extremely fast paced race (hopefully more PR’s!!). Let’s go get it ladies, “Believe!”
- Jessica Kraiza
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