Men’s and women’s XC heading into A10’s with high hopes
The men’s and women’s cross country teams have the Atlantic 10 Championships meet this weekend. The team is expecting to have a more competitive race and set many personal records at this meet.
Junior men’s captain Will Delaney believes the team is strong this year and will succeed in the A-10 championship.
“We have had two more years of strong recruiting classes that will surely help us compete better than previous years,” said Delaney.
In addition to stronger freshmen runners, there is a closer team dynamic and a more focused group of runners, which has increased the success of the team.
“Overall, the team is more focused and more determined to change the program and make the program more serious,” said Delaney. “I believe we are more prepared for A-10s this year than previous years. Our team is more dedicated and we have been hitting our workouts correctly.”
Freshmen runner Logan Caruso identified the team goal as competitiveness, and is working towards becoming a more experienced runner himself. He is hoping to keep up with the older runners and improve his skills, which will increase his time.
In order to do as well as he can, Delaney plans to pace himself to catch and pass other runners, and is motivating his teammates to do the same.
Delaney is excited about the flat and fast paced course, because it will help increase the runners confidence and speed.
“I expect this year to be better than the past two years I have been here. Freshman year it was almost as if anyone who wasn’t injured raced. Many of us were tired and hurt by the end of the season,” said Delaney.
This season, the cross country team has become more serious runners and have worked harder as a team while keeping their individual goals in mind.
“The coaching of Coach Mac and Coach Lonzi is great and team communication has improved,” said Delaney.
This season with the addition of new runners, and the increased motivation of past runners, the team overall is more dedicated to the sport. It has been working and training harder to do the best they can to reach team goals and their own personal records.
“I firmly believe our team will do better than the previous two years and hope to exceed our expectations for times. This will be a good race and we are all excited and looking forward to it,” said Delaney.
So far this season, both the women and the men’s cross country teams have excelled in nearly every meet and have had personal records set, and a school record broken. With their successes throughout the season, the Bonnies have a lot to motivate them and encourage them to work their hardest in their final championship meet.
There will be 14 schools running at the Atlantic 10 Championships in Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday, Oct. 27.
By Emily Coughlin, Social Media Director
coughleg16@bonaventure.edu
