By Michael Rickicki
Contributing Writer
Many of St. Bonaventure’s Men’s Cross Country runners achieved personal bests last Saturday. The team participated in the Paul Short Run at Brown University when the top six out of seven runners logged their personal bests for an 8k (4.9 miles), according to gobonnies.com.
At the Harry F. Anderson Invitational on Sept. 24, the team came in 10th out of 22 teams and at the Paul Short Run, the men placed 44 out of 46 teams.
Freshman Devan Cavanaugh was one of the personal-record breakers at last Saturday’s race.
“It feels absolutely amazing to be a finisher. You just accomplished something most people will never do in their entire lives,” said Cavanaugh.
Cavanaugh finished the 8k with a personal best of 27:16. “I’m hoping to bring faster race times and to help the team in any way I can” Cavanaugh said.
Cavanaugh expressed a level of motivation when it comes to competing at the Division I level.
“I am motivated to get better because I’m here to accomplish something,” Cavanaugh said. “I’m not just here to be here. I want to look back on these years and be proud of what I did.”
Cavanaugh has had to develop the mental fortitude to push on through the races.
“As with any race, negative thoughts will come into your head but you just have to push past those and think positive,” Cavanaugh said.
Pushing himself past his limits is what Cavanaugh tries to do.
“When racing, my strategy is to go out faster than I think I can handle and try to keep that pace.” Cavanaugh said. “This strategy helps push me to faster times and makes sure I give every race my absolute best effort.”
It takes a level of motivation to perform at Division I for Cross Country, as many of the men have expressed.
“It would not be fair to my team or my coaches if I didn’t give my all and try to improve.” Cavanaugh said.
Cavanaugh said the sport takes a high amount of required dedication.
“I set a clear and concise goal and mentally commit to it.” Cavanaugh said.
He also said leading up to a race, he likes to take it easy so he can perform at his best.
“I stay calm and relaxed, anything to make sure I don’t use up extra energy that will help me on the race course,” Cavanaugh said.
Junior Levi Malone also set a personal best time of 28:35. Malone expressed his gratitude to his coaches’ and teammates’ efforts.
“My coaches and team motivate me to get better,” Malone said. “We push each other in workouts and our coaches do a good job of spotting our potential and encouraging and pushing us to be the best we can be.”
Malone also talked about his thought process while racing.
“Usually I do a lot of math in my head, adding up my mile splits and trying to figure out what I need to split for the next ones to hit the time I want,” Malone said.
He also said he has song lyrics stuck in his head while racing. Malone hopes to help out the younger guys but admits he’s not “the most serious person.” But Malone finds comfort in the effort he puts
“The best feeling is finishing a race and knowing you gave it your all even if your time wasn’t as fast as [you’d] like,” Malone said
The next time the team will race will be on Oct. 15 at the Gettysburg invitational. No time has been revealed as of now.
rickicms16@bonaventure.edu
