Competitiveness: the key to success on and off the track

MacFarlane sees improvement as runners adopt a winning mindset

In only its third season, the St. Bonaventure track program has taken large strides on both the men’s and women’s side.
Both the men’s and women’s teams set a number of personal records and, in some cases, shattering program records.
For Bob MacFarlane, head coach of both the men’s and women’s cross country and track teams, it was hard to pinpoint who exactly stood out this past weekend at the Dave Labor Invitational in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.
“There were a lot of personal records,” said MacFarlane. “The majority of the team did very well, and that’s what we’re looking for. We want improvement every time.”
MacFarlane added, “This is our third meet. So during the first meet, we got our base times down, and that’s helped our runners set goals. Through the first three meets, almost everyone set personal records.”
While MacFarlane said the overall performance from his team has been nothing short of impressive, especially from his freshmen runners, he said Nate Prisella, a sophomore, had had the most impressive performance so far.
In the team’s second meet of the track season, Prisella broke the school record in the 5k.
“Nate was outstanding,” said MacFarlane. “It wasn’t a surprise. He’s been working very diligently, and he’s understanding the system. He’s doing exactly what he’s told.”
MacFarlane said, “His success was expected. He set his goals after the cross country season. His goal was to break the record.”
While setting personal and program records is dependent on performance, MacFarlane also said it comes with attitude and mindset. He said that having a “compete against yourself” mindset translates to his runners’ having success.
“It’s not just competing against another runner, it’s competing against yourself to be better,” said MacFarlane. “We want them to compete to better themselves. All I am looking for right now is improvement. I want them [runners] to get better every week.”
Assistant cross country and track coach, Sarah Lonzi, said that the “compete against yourself” mindset is something they want their runners to have off the field, too.
“Not only to we want our runners to pursue a better athletic career, but academically and personally,” said Lonzi. “Once you have success athletically, it can translate to academic and personal interests. We have had a lot of great runners go on to do great things in their professional lives.”
MacFarlane further described the things he wants his runners to embody off the track.
“It’s the discipline. It’s the time management,” said MacFarlane. “Our goal is to see our runners flourish in the classroom. If they’re that competitive to get an A in the classroom, they can be competitive on the track or cross-country course.”
MacFarlane added, “It takes time. It takes patience. It hurts sometimes. Everything we do revolves around getting mentally stronger. If our runners can handle a hurdle in front of them, they can handle problems that come up in life and attack it without an issue. It’s all a part of life. We want our runners to take what they learn on the track and course, and translate it to their own lives.”
On top of mindset, MacFarlane expressed his excitement toward his teams upward trend and development.
“If you look at our board, we have the top-10 times in school history,” said MacFarlane. “We already have six guys that have broken into the top-10. Four of them are freshmen, one’s a sophomore and one’s a junior. That’s awesome.”
MacFarlane added, “The freshmen that we got are performing how we expected. And that’s a good sign right there.”
On the women’s side, much of the same exists.
“In the women’s 800, two freshmen, a sophomore and a junior moved into the top-10,” MacFarlane said. “In the 1500, one freshman moved into the top-10. And that’s a tough one, because there has been a lot of really fast girls.”
MacFarlane said, “By the end of the season, we want to see our runners get in the top four or five in a track meet. Eventually, we want to win an event. We’re not putting that pressure on them yet, because we’re just starting. We are getting there. It’s a building process.”