BY ANDREW HALE, STAFF WRITER
After a month and a half since the season began, the St. Bonaventure Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams look to finish their season off strong at the Atlantic 10 Championship on Saturday, Oct. 29.
Throughout the regular season, the men have had top-five placements in three of their four meets, and the women have placed in the top three in three of their last four meets. Both are focused on running to the best of their abilities heading into the A-10 Championship this weekend.
“In order to have success this weekend, the majority of our runners have to run their PR or better,” head coach Bob McFarlane said. “If we are able to run our personal records, we will be able to beat a lot of teams.”
The men and women have had a season full of history as five runners from the men’s team have moved into the top ten in Bonnies’ history with record-breaking times recorded during the regular season. On the other hand, the women had four runners break into the top ten in the Bonaventure record book.
The Bonnies, who have improved over the course of the last few seasons, have not gotten caught up in their own individual success, according to McFarlane.
“The team’s attitude and wanting to do well, working hard and working together has been a big part of their success this season,” McFarlane said. “I know it’s an individual sport, but you only get better once the team works to get better as a whole.”
Bonaventure, who has 23 freshmen across both the men’s and the women’s teams, has also attributed its success to the depth of the team according to assistant coach Sarah Lonzi.
“The depth and support as well as the dynamic of the team have improved throughout the season,” Lonzi said. “The runners can see that Cross Country is individually based but at the end of the day they know it’s still a team sport.”
Another key to success this weekend, according to McFarlane, is that the team will have to rely on their entire team top to bottom, not just their best runners.
“You always have your top five but then your six, seven, eight, nine, ten runners have to help out,” McFarlane said. “Sometimes, your top five runners are not always your top five, and your sixth, seventh, eighth runners might come up big for the team. So having a lot of depth this season has been good for us.”
The team has been preparing for the A-10 Championship by creating a unique race plan based strictly on the individual runner’s PR. The race plans allow for the runner and the coaches to have a good baseline for the times needed in order to succeed in the tournament.
For McFarlane, the end goal isn’t necessarily to place first but if the team is able to match or do better than their personal records that’s what he’ll consider a success.
“When our players run a race, they aren’t competing against anyone but themselves,” McFarlane said. “Let the chips fall where they may, because if everyone runs a PR what more can I ask for? If everybody does this, wherever we place, that’s where we place, and I’ll be very happy for them.”
halea22@bonaventure.edu
