By Pat Tintle
Staff Writer
After the men’s cross-country team took the top spot in the Seton Hill Classic two weeks ago, both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will head to Notre Dame for the National Catholic Championships in Indiana today. The event will host more than 40 schools, including top-ranked teams Villanova and Duquesne.
When facing so many schools, it can be difficult to prepare a team for the competition, according to Head Coach Bob Macfarlane.
“We look to see if there are going to be any Atlantic 10 schools competing,” Macfarlane said. “We try and compare ourselves against those teams and see how we shape up.”
Such a large event brings in schools of many different college levels.
“There’s Division 1, 2, 3 and even NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) schools that will be there,” Macfarlane said. “We look at teams like Niagara and Canisius that will both be there, and base ourselves off them because they’re our local competition that will be there.”
Having schools below Division 1 is not necessarily going to make the race any easier, according to Macfarlane.
“Even if a lot of Division 2 schools will be there, cross country is a little bit different than other sports,” Macfarlane said. “Between Division 1 and Division 2 there is not really that much of a difference. They’re all very excellent runners in either category.”
Last year, the women’s team finished 16th overall. Before that, the team never finished above last place, according to Macfarlane.
“We’d like to break into the top 10,” Macfarlane said. “And we do have the capability to do so.”
The women’s team will be going to Indiana without one of its best runners, sophomore Kerry Caher due to a nagging injury.
“We just need to have our sixth and seventh runner try to improve themselves to be a very good five runner,” Macfarlane said. “Somebody is going to have to step up. The window of opportunity opens up and then someone’s got to jump into that.”
Preparing for the National Catholic Championships has not changed Macfarlane’s method of practice. The team will continue to run under its normal routine until the invitational.
“We will do our usual temple workout, plus interval workout, plus race workout,” Macfarlane said. “Just the norm of staying hydrated and eating well are the keys. If you haven’t fueled your body two days in advance, it’s not going to make a difference how you eat the day before. If you eat well and sleep well, it’ll take care of itself.”
Coming off of the Seton Hill victory, Coach Macfarlane said he is not sure how the win will affect his team.
“It’s a building process,” Macfarlane said. “When I took over three years ago, last place was the norm. You have to learn to crawl, then to walk and that’s where we are at this point. We just want to try and be competitive.”
