At the GLVC championships, both of the University of Indianapolis’ Cross Country teams placed third overall. The men’s team had an average time of 23:07.53 which resulted in their fastest finish since 2000, according to Men’s and Women’s Head Cross Country Coach Brad Robinson. He said he is proud of both of the programs for their finishes at the championships.
According to Robinson, it rained on and off for the majority of the team’s time during the race. For the women’s team, the rain didn’t hit during the race, but the men faced some difficulty with the weather, Robinson said.
“By the time the men got on the course, it became a little bit more challenging. The rain was still coming down,” Robinson said. “Even an hour later when they started and certain areas were pooling up with puddles and small ponds…. So repeating those same loops as they go through became a bit challenging in the footing, but worked out well.”
Sophomore Chris Switzer finished third overall for the men. He said that he is shocked about coming in third because he was not projected to do so.
“I was wanting to hit third, but I was more ranked like fifth or sixth walking into it,” Switzer said. “It was something that kind of shows that no matter what your rankings are, you definitely can walk in there and you never know who’s going to have a bad day. ”
Switzer said he believes that the team’s success was because they worked together better than before. He said that because of the new freshmen on the team, this has been a year of development but the freshmen helped the team become even more of a family.
“We need to be more stronger together. It’s not just a seven person race. We all piggyback off of each other,” Switzer said. “I’ve always said that my team is my rock. No matter who you are, if they’re cheering, if they’re running out there with us, if they’re there in spirit…. I think that’s why when we got third, it wasn’t us being shocked. It was more of us feeling happy that we all can do this together.”
For the women, junior Lauren Bailey finished second. She said that it was a great feeling to be able to compete with her teammates during their last meet all together since at the team will be cut down to seven for the regional. She said that despite the conditions, the team gave it their all.
“It was just a lot of just overwhelming joy… just knowing that we definitely gave it everything we had for each other, despite all the conditions, everybody performed to the best of their ability,” Bailey said.
On Nov. 9th, the teams headed to Evansville to run in the NCAA D2 Midwest Regional. Bailey said prepared in the same way that she prepared for the GLVC, which is by listening to her body and keeping a positive attitude.
“[To prepare] physically, I just make sure throughout the week just doing the little things; stretching, taking some extra time to get in the ice bath or getting enough sleep,” Bailey said. “Little things like that, just paying attention to the little details and listening to my body as much as possible. Mentally, I guess just going into with that positive attitude of like, ‘Yes, I’m nervous, but today’s going to be a really fun day. It’s going to be really exciting and it’s doing something you love.’”
