By Taylor Nigrelli
Sports Editor
Head cross country coach Bob Macfarlane smiled as he searched for a place to conduct an interview. He looked to his office, only to discover an interview was already taking place inside.
“All of a sudden,” he said.” “People want to talk to us.”
This new found popularity isn’t quite unwarranted. Just a week after the women’s team won its first-ever Little Three Invitational, the men’s team captured its first victory since 2003 at the Seton Hill Griffin Classic Saturday. The Brown and White dominated the meet, finishing with five of the eight fastest times.
This marks the first time both teams have ever claimed victory in the same year.
Macfarlane took control of the program in the summer of 2010, just over three years ago. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished last in nearly every meet and invitational they entered his first two seasons.
Macfarlane believes he was able to turn this lack of success into a winning atmosphere so quickly by recruiting runners with the right attitude toward running as well as academics.
“A lot of it is the attitude of the kids,” Macfarlane said. “We brought in a lot of kids that were committed to the sport of running. A lot of them are very bright. That’s something I looked for when I was recruiting them. Academics were very important to the process. If I didn’t see academics were very important to them, I steered away from them.”
Macfarlane is now working with three full recruiting classes. He inherited his entire first team. Senior Terrance Petty is one of just two members (Peter Eller is the other) of Macfarlane’s first squad still involved with the program.
Although he didn’t recruit Petty, he’s precisely what Macfarlane looks for in a runner. This is why Petty has been team captain for the past two seasons, despite suffering from a nagging foot injury.
Macfarlane said he counts Petty’s leadership as one of the biggest reasons for the team’s improvement.
“(Terrance) is a good man,” Macfarlane said. “He directs the kids and knows what he’s doing. I can go out and tell him what we need to do, and the guys will follow his lead.”
Petty was quick to give the credit right back to Macfarlane. He too believes the attitude change is the biggest reason for the team’s recent success.
“I think the seriousness of the program has been the biggest change,” Petty said. “Coach Mac has really changed the attitude of the team and the guys on the team. We’re just more motivated and dedicated to the sport.”
The Seton Hill Griffin Classic was quite the test of how effective the team’s new attitude would be. Coming off a last-place finish at the Little Three Invitational, the Bonnies were faced with a course dominated by hills.
According to junior runner Steven Kibbe, the only preparations that can be made for hills are mental ones.
“We did some hill practice,” Kibbe said. “But there’s no real type of preparation for a course like that beyond being mentally tough.”
After conquering the hills as well as the rest of the competition, the Bonnies were presented with a trophy. The feeling of victory was an unfamiliar one for the Bonnies, but that’s quite alright with them.
“Everybody wants to feel like a winner,” Kibbe said. “It makes you feel like you accomplished something, so you keep striving.”
“It feels good,” Petty said. “It feels very good.”
