Sean Mickey
Contributing Writer
Levi Malone’s tenure on the St. Bonaventure men’s cross country team has been an everchanging journey.
Levi began his time at Bonaventure solely as a student. Now, as a senior, Levi is a captain of the men’s cross country team. He said his resilience and dedication to the sport haven’t gone unnoticed.
“Freshman year, my next-door neighbor was actually on the team,” Malone said. “I expressed interest to him about joining the team and one day I was just sitting in the Hickey, and I got a call from [my neighbor] saying the coach would like to come talk to me.”
He said the coach asked him about his high school running experience and asked if Malone would be committed to the team if he joined.
“The next thing I know I was filling out the paperwork.”
Originally a sophomore cross country walk-on, Malone dedicated himself to the sport as an athlete and teammate. He said becoming a captain wasn’t something he anticipated.
“Coach [MacFarlane] always said that if I work hard and keep pushing it to that next level, results will come,” Malone said.
“I guess he saw that I was improving, and he saw I had what he considered to be leadership potential. So, I really just worked hard over the last two years and tried to establish myself as a leader and a runner. I didn’t really expect to be a captain this year, but when he told me this last spring, I was pretty excited.”
A mentally and physically taxing sport, runners sometimes wonder why someone would dedicate themselves to the sport.
“Competing is really fun,” Malone said. “People probably question why we go run for like five miles at a time as hard as we can, but the competitiveness and the sport really bring us together.”
Malone is looking to set the bar high from the start this season. The senior looks to get a personal record as the Bonnies head to Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana on Sept. 15. for the National Catholic Invitational.
“I think this is probably the best shape I’ve been in since joining the team. I’d like to drop my 8k time a lot,” Malone said. “I’m really hoping to establish myself in this first race and PR from my best time last season, which I think is doable because we had a workout recently where we had to do a five-mile simulated race, and I ran close to what I ran last year in the workout.”
Before the Brown and White face off against other Catholic institutions, there are a few things the Bonnies will do ahead of time.
“The day of the race we warm up, get together and right before the race goes off we usually circle up and give a small speech to get the guys going and to reassure them it’ll be a good race,” Malone said. “Usually one of us will give a small prayer.”
As far as the season goes, the Bonnies are primed for their best finish in years. After a few disappointing seasons and last-place finishes, the team is raising its expectations.
“We brought in young talent and we have a lot of good guys this year, and it seems like we’ve been working well together,” Malone said. “Our goal is to get out of the basement of the A10.
The last couple years we’ve been right at the bottom. At the A10 Championships we just don’t do so well, but I think this year with the talent and the leadership we got, we can step it up in the A10 and do a lot.”
mickeys17@bonaventure.edu
