The Oswego State men’s and women’s cross country teams are off to a fast start following their first meet of the season and will look to continue to build as the season goes on. Behind a new head coach in Jacob Smith and a group of hard working runners, the Lakers will look to have a successful season.
The Lakers kicked off their 2019 campaign with the men’s side taking third out of four teams and the women taking second out of three teams at the Fredonia Invitational on Aug. 31. The team was boosted by several impressive individual performances.
The biggest standout of the day was sophomore Emily Gustafson, who set a course record with a time of 15:49.00, topping 16:09.00, which was the old record. Gustafson’s first-place finish played a big role in the women’s impressive finish.
“She succeeds at such a high level because of the combination of talent and hard work,” Smith said. “She does a really good job of being diligent about her training and trying to eat healthy and getting her sleep and doing all the little things that you have to do to be a successful distance runner.”
Gustafson was not the only standout at SUNY Fredonia, however. The men’s side was led by freshman Gabriel Winters-Bona, who placed fifth with a time of 20:42.83. But even with his individual success, the young runner still has a team-first mentality.
“Me being the first man doesn’t mean any difference to the team,” Winters-Bona said. “Cross country’s a team sport, so it’s everybody.”
This team mentality is something that Smith and the veterans on the roster like to see and try to instill. Senior Eric Perez demonstrated this as his goals are almost solely team-oriented.
“Just help push the team,” Perez said. “[Get them] ready for the next following years because it’s a young team, so I want to put them in the direction that they should be in.”
This attitude has not gone unnoticed by his teammates. Perez has set an example that the other runners, the younger ones in particular can look up to.
“They’re great leaders,” Winters-Bona said. “All of them, they all took me in. Better than my last team, they showed me the ropes.”
The leadership on the roster can be attributed to the team-first mentality that has been established within the culture of Oswego State cross country. It is this kind of team-oriented mindset that can help a coach in his first season with a new team. Smith, an experienced collegiate coach, came to Oswego State this summer to take over as the cross country coach. While coaching changes can be tough, the team is doing its best to adjust.
“I think they’re still kind of getting a sense of who I am and I’m still adjusting to them,” Smith said. “I think I’m a lot different than the coaches they’ve had in the past … Change is usually not easy for most people, so making that change, doing things differently, is sometimes a struggle. But they do a fairly decent job of communicating, and everyday I’m starting to see some more improvement from people and I’m excited about the direction that we’re going.”
The runners have seen growth with their new coach from a chemistry standpoint. They continue to build a relationship with him, and they are excited about what the future holds with their new leader.
“He’s a really great guy,” Perez said. “He’s got a lot of experience. He cares about us a lot. It’s not just about athletics with him. It’s about academics, extra curriculars, everything. He’s pushing us to be better on the field and also in the classroom.”
With a team-first mentality and a new coach to rally behind, this group of runners will look to have a successful season behind an expectation of focusing on themselves.
“All we can do is execute our race plans and run to the best of our ability,” Smith said. “We can’t control what the other teams do so in essence its really just a battle of ourselves against ourselves.”
The Oswegonian file photo from 2018
