The Online Reflector

The University of Indianapolis cross country teams ended their seasons on Nov. 3 at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Midwest Regional at Wisconsin-Parkside.

The women’s squad placed 15th out of the 23 teams competing. Junior Sutton Knapp finished 39th with a time of 22:32 in the 6K race, while sophomore Jacklyn Howland finished 43rd with a time of 22:35. Senior Stephanie Cave finished with a place of 45th and a time of 22:36. Many of the times were personal bests for the runners.

Howland said that the runners had mixed emotions about the regional meet.

“I feel like I had a good race personally.We did better than we had done in the past, and we were further up. But it was just that we couldn’t pull together as a team,” Howland said. “We had the same team result, and we were really hoping for a lot better than we got. It’s kind of like mixed emotions.”

Howland said that she prepared for the meet as she did for any other during the season, but made sure to keep the gravity of the meet in the back of her mind.

“I put more pressure on it [regionals] because it means more than other meets did. And I didn’t put so much pressure on that I psyched myself out, because that would not be good. But you have to put some kind of pressure [on the meet,] otherwise you aren’t as successful,” Howland said.

The men’s squad also posted personal bests during the 6K race. Sophomore Alex Cushman placed 26th with a time of 31:54, while sophomore Sean O’Brien placed 84th with a time of 33:07. Junior Ben McMillan closed the meet for the men, with a time of 33:15 placing 92nd.

Cushman said he felt confident about the regional and attributed that to his relaxed approach to training.

“This meet, I tried to relax a little bit more. At conference, I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I didn’t do as well as I wanted,” Cushman said. “And so I just decided, all right, relax; go into this race relaxed, and it seemed to work out a lot better.”

Cushman also said that his relaxed attitude helped him physically during the meet.

“It just took away the stress. I wasn’t as tense. I remembered at conference my entire body, physically wise, was pretty tense. So I was a lot more relaxed,” Cushman said.

Head Cross Country Coach Kathy Casey helped the runners prepare for the meet by keeping practice familiar and giving the runners a break from the normal routine. This included doing popcorn activities, creating posters and having family dinners to get the team together but not talk about running.

“We did these little posters, ‘Why I Love to Compete,’ and each of them put a little thing down and put those on the locker room doors,” she said. “On the way there [to regionals], I did a little sticky note and a little something that reminded me of them—whether it was  like a pack of gum or something silly or if it was inspiration.”

Casey believes that these types of bonding experiences give the runners a way to put less pressure on the race.

“It was something about them that would show I care, but also inspire them and motivate them,” Casey said.

Howland said she enjoyed the grab bags and what they meant for the team.

Even though the season has ended, both Cushman and Howland look forward to next season. Cushman said he looks forward to reaching goals that he has set during the last season.

“I’m looking forward to a shot at going to nationals. I’m looking forward to being able to just reset, [and] go into next season more prepared than I was this season,” he said.

Howland said she is looking forward to the goals the team sets as a whole.

“I feel like with them [current freshmen] coming up and the addition of new freshmen [next year], we will be able to pull each other along even more and really work together and have more challenging goals and meet our goal [that] we had for regionals,” Howland said. “I’m excited, personally, to get better than I was this season, because I feel like that’s definitely going to happen.”