Macfarlane and Lonzi assemble best team in six years
As snow begins to fall and students are forced to take their workouts to the Richter Center, it means the fall sports season is all but over.
The soccer team is packing up cleats while the golf teams are storing their clubs away for the coming winter.
But for the St. Bonaventure women’s cross country team, they still have one more chance to end their season on a high note at the 2019 NCAA Northeast Regional championships.
“I just want to push through the cold weather,” said sophomore Amberlee Robertson. “And try to push to see where I am at compared to everyone else in the region and see exactly where I am at, even if it is cold because everyone has to do the same thing.”
Senior captain Sydney Beeman saw the regionals with a different goal in mind, to be as close to her early season performances as possible with hopes of seeing growth as the season progressed.
“We did run there already this year,” said Beeman. “So if I can be close to that time and do something similar, I would be happy.”
Regardless of how the women’s cross country team finishes its 2019 campaign, the runners have seen their fair share of challenges and successes in 2019.
“I’d say racing was a biggest challenge this year for us this year,” said assistant coach Sarah Lonzi. “We went to Kentucky, and it was a bigger meet this year, so unfortunately we weren’t able to take everyone, so it kinda of limited the opportunities for some of the runners who did not go to compete to kind of show what they had.”
Head coach Robert Macfarlane saw injuries as the biggest challenge for the Bonnies, that even from the beginning of the season the team was already down some key athletes.
“One of the challenges that I feel we had this year for the women’s team was that we had four kids come in that were basically injured and could have been very productive for us,” said Macfarlane. “That is a challenge because one is hard, but when we had four, that makes it even more difficult.”
The Bonnies were missing the likes of senior captain Christine Walsh, a key contributor to the 2018 team running seventh fastest 5K in program history on the track.
Despite the injury-plagued start to the season for the Bonnies, they had faith in their younger athletes to take the leap and contribute when called upon.
“We you are going through injuries like this you depend upon the younger group to step up,” said Macfarlane. “And I felt that two of our freshman girls really stepped up to the plate this year.”
The Bonnies got key contributions from freshmen Lindsey Clawson and Emma Larkman this season, their first seasons competing collegiately. Larkman and Clawson posted impressive times at the Louisville XC Classic, with Larkman running 19:31 and Clawson running 19:34, ranking 12th and 13th in program history for the 5K cross country distance.
Macfarlane highlighted the team’s unity as a reason for the team’s success, despite the injuries.
“I thought the team unity was better this year than it was last year,” said Macfarlane. “I contribute that to the older kids, especially Sydney who I feel was a good leader, and I think that she set a good example by working hard.”
Lonzi had different take on the team’s success this season, highlighting the team’s significant increase in mileage and intensity.
“I felt like we increase the intensity this year,” said Lonzi. “I came into this season with the fear of injury and athletes and freshman making the transition with higher and more intense training, but they did it with ease.”
The Bonnies increased their summer mileage from about 35 to 40 miles a week to hitting 50 to 55 miles per week.
Regardless of the women’s performance at the regionals, the 2019 team has already created their own place in the Bonnies’ history books as one of the greatest teams in program history.
“I am finishing my ninth year this year and 2013 and 2019 were the best two women’s teams the Bona’s have ever put out,” said Macfarlane. “I know historically these have been the two best teams.”
If the season ended today for the Bonnies, they would already own the eight, ninth, 12th 13th and 15th best cross country 5Ks in program history.
The regional is set for today on Audubon Golf Course, in Buffalo, where the weather is predicted to be 17 degrees with 8.7 inches of snow, according to the Buffalo news.
This season for the Bonnies has been a year of great successes but has still given the team many things to look at and improve on in the coming years.
By John Pullano, Sports Editor
pullanjj18@bonaventure.edu
