Sept. 28, 2011
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After one month into the school year and two courses under their belt, the University of Maryland cross country team is preparing for its third meet of the season this weekend at the Lehigh Paul Short Run in Pennsylvania. Junior Anna Roth gives insight to this year's team dynamics and expectations as they continue to tackle a new year.
The cross country team has started the 2011 season on the right foot. The Mount St. Mary's invite was a good race to kick off the season for us because the course was essentially flat, and everybody who was healthy had the opportunity to run. Even though we knew that four of our top competitors would be sidelined with injuries, we still expected to win. However, American edged us out for first place by one point.
Although we didn't pull out the win we were looking for, I was happy with my race because I felt relaxed--and it was nice to be back in the front after struggling with a hamstring injury last season. I finished third, my highest placing in a collegiate race, and ran a new PR of 18:24 for 5K. The best part was that I didn't kill myself doing it.
We got our feet wet at Mount St. Mary's, but Navy was the first real test of the season. The women tackled out first 6k of the season, while the men faced their first 8k. Our plan was simple: get out fast and just be competitive.
Freshman Myah Hicks and I took off at the gun and tucked in to the back of the front pack. We picked up and passed several girls that fell off the park close to mile 3 before with hit Bertha. This was my first encounter with Bertha and she was different from what I had pictured. I thought she would be long and pretty steep, but instead she was shorter but practically vertical. It was maybe 20 steps before we were over and rolling toward the finish.
Myah and I both had great races, finishing 11th and 12th. and I ran a PR for 6k on a tough course, so I was happy with my race. The team's 6th place finish was disappointing since we were only 15 points out of 3rd, though we were still missing four of our top girls.
All in all, training is going pretty well so far. We built a strong aerobic base over the summer and we haven't quite started to bring in the speed. But, we are really pumped for Paul Short this weekend, especially since it will be our first big meet with our full squad. Lehigh is a fast course with a lot of good competition. Adding Ashley [Cromartie] and Julie [Fricke] back into the equation will make for an exciting race and stronger competition.
Stay tuned!
