Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed Saturday, Nov. 14, at the West regional meet. The men capped off a solid season, placing 10th out of 16 teams. The women excelled, claiming second overall and earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Div. III national championships happening this weekend.
The men were led by senior Curtis Reid, who finished 40th with a time of 27:24.82. This was Reid’s best ever finish at a regional meet.
First-year all-stars Alfredo Villasenor and Cory Rand competed well, but weren’t at top form. Rand, who consistently placed first amongst his fellow Whitman runners in other meets, placed a distant third at regionals.
“The meet did not go well for me at all,” said Rand. “My legs were very tired all weekend and I think my performance can be attributed to that along with the fact that I ran the first mile too fast.”
Coming into the meet, the men were ranked 7th in the region, ahead of Lewis and Clark and Occidental College. Both Lewis and Clark and Occidental finished ahead of Whitman at the meet.
The men battled injuries throughout the season. Just three weeks ago, senior leader Matthew Kelly developed tendinitis in his right ankle, which prevented him from training with the team in the lead-up to regionals.
“I took a risk in my training and was averaging around 75 to 80 miles a week this summer and I ended up developing tendinitis in my right ankle about three weeks ago,” said Kelly. “The last couple of meets have been pretty frustrating.”
Kelly spent five out of seven days running in the pool in the three weeks before the regional meet.
On the women’s side, the regional meet was a chance to show the rest of the division just how hard they had been working throughout the season.
Senior Yasmeen Colis led the team, finishing 12th with a time of 23:01.15 on the 6,000-meter course. This was Colis’s best performance of her four trips to regionals. Senior Sara McCune finished close behind, placing 16th in 23:19.60, matching her previous best finish at regionals.
For McCune, her strong finish turned a somewhat lackluster season around. Her rough season, she said, taught her a couple things about the importance of being a good teammate.
“This season has definitely been tough for me. I have only had one race that I really felt good about, but that has allowed me to develop as a runner and a person in a new way,” said McCune. “I think this season has helped me remember that running isn’t about personal success, but rather about working hard and trying your best, both as an individual and as a team.”
Because cross country is often characterized as an individual sport, the team element is often overlooked.
“Mostly everyone’s goal on our team is to better themselves on an individual level,” said sophomore Erick Aguayo. “More often than not, this translates into a desire to work together by pushing each other to do our best in practices and competitions.”
Running in packs, giving teammates words of encouragement on the course and from the sidelines and pushing each other in practice are all ways that team helps its individual athletes.
Looking forward, both the men’s and women’s teams graduate a lot of their talent this year. However, both have strong first-year runners who will hopefully be able to keep Whitman cross country strong for years to come.
“We are a much, much stronger team because of our freshmen,” said coach Malcolm Dunn. “They’ve been a great addition to the team; they force the top runners to stay on their game and many are top runners themselves. I’m really excited about our prospects for next season.”
