On Sept. 29, the Oswego State men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Letchworth State Park to run in the Mike Woods Invitational. The men’s team paced itself to ninth out of 23 teams, while the women finished eighth out of 16 teams.
Andrew Boyce was the first Oswego State runner to cross the finish line, with a time of 24:27.7, placing 51st. Senior Tim Olmsted finished in 52nd with a time of 27:26.2, and Doug Bachman placed 65th with a time of 27:39.2.
“I got up to [Boyce] at the end of the race, and that helped us coming around the straightaway,” Olmsted said. “[Finishing]is the hardest part of the race, and it helps seeing each other at the end, those last few steps. It is nice to see other people up there with you. Our team as a whole is doing well finishing together up towards the front.”
Olmsted is always one of the top runners that crosses the finish line for the Lakers this season. This year, the Spencerport native has a different racing strategy that has been working for him.
“Compared to last year, I am [starting] off slow and working with other people, rather than last year, where I was [running hard] and trying to hang out [at the end],” Olmsted said.
Not only has he changed, but also, the team has been running differently.
“We are running a lot better in packs. Last year, we were very spread out,” Olmsted said. “Andy and I being at the end together is a very positive thing, and hopefully, we can do it for the entire race.”
On the women’s side, graduate student Mackenzie Ross was the top runner, as she came across the finish line with a time of 24:26.5.
The former SUNY Geneseo Knight placed 41st in the competition. Emily Gustafson finished with a time of 24:27.4 to place 42nd in the race.
“I’m still pretty close with all of my coaches, so it doesn’t feel super different. It is just really weird seeing all the new faces,” Ross said. “They are still a really good team, so I was expecting to be where I was compared to them. But I did better than I thought I would. I was in the mix, so that was a good feeling. [I] dropped a minute from my personal record on that course.”
Despite some struggles, Ross was able to get into the pack of the SUNY Geneseo runners, who are currently ranked as the No. 2 cross country team in the Atlantic Region.
“I went out a little too fast, [and that] kind of hurt me towards the end of the race,” Ross said. “Just telling myself that [I need to] keep it [one kilometer] at a time.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams return to the action on Oct. 13 as they travel out of the state to head to Glassboro, New Jersey, for the Inter-Regional Battle hosted by Rowan University. The Rowan men’s team is the No. 5 team in the NCAA Div. III Atlantic region, after moving up two spots from last week.
“This is the weekend where people are going to break out,” head coach Evan Magnussen said. “I would like to see two or three people on the men’s and women’s to break out because it sets up rankings for regionals and in conference play. It should be very interesting on who steps up and how it will turn out for us as a team.”
Photo by Greg Tavani | The Oswegonian
