After running at SUNY Canton this past weekend, the Oswego State cross country team is in the midst of a three week break before their next meet, the SUNYAC Championships. The runners are tired from an intense training plan, but they believe in a process that will have them fresh and ready for the Nov. 2 race at SUNY New Paltz.
This past weekend at the St. Lawrence University Ronald C. Hoffman Invitational the men’s team finished 19th out of 21 teams and the women’s team finished 16th out of 20 teams. It was a Pre-Atlantic regional meet that, according to head coach Jacob Smith, will not affect the team’s postseason picture, so at the end of the day it was just a nice course to get a Saturday run in. The individual results varied, with Emily Gustafson posting the most impressive individual finish with an 18th place finish out of over 200 competitors. Gustafson ran the 6K course in 23:43, almost two minutes faster than her time in a previous meet on “a hilly” SUNY New Paltz course and 30 seconds faster than the Sept. 28 meet at SUNY Geneseo. Also finishing in the top 100 for the women were sophomores Hannah Hertik and Emily Blake.
The most impressive individual run for the men was from freshmen Gabriel Winters-Bona, who finished in 65th place out of more than 250 competitors. His time 27:06 was exactly a minute faster than his time in SUNY New Paltz. The freshman from Scotia-Glenville has seen great improvement since the beginning of the year, shaving minutes off his time. Despite being a freshman, he exudes confidence.
“[The season has been] great, it’s been all up hill,” Winters-Bona said. “I’m pretty happy.”
Erik Perez shares a similar outlook on the season as a whole and sees an advantage for the team in their upcoming visit to SUNY New Paltz for the SUNYAC championship meet the first weekend of November.
“We have all just been trying to focus on the big meets,” said Perez. “SUNYAC and regionals. We are trying to do a lot of work, putting in a lot of time on our feet and just getting stronger and stronger. New Paltz, which was the pre-SUNYAC meet, we got to see the course so that was pretty [good]. Very hilly but we are definitely going to have the advantage going into that meet [because] we were one of the few teams who went to that event.”
The very fast Gustafson has the same optimism for the women’s side of the team as they go to SUNY New Paltz in three weeks.
“We got to see the SUNYAC course ahead of time,” Gustafson said. “I thought it was a great way for our team to get some experience and know the course.”
The team has been very satisfied with their experience under Smith, who has brought a new mindset to training in his first season at the helm. When it is an easy day, you go slow and get your volume in. When it is time to go hard, you give it your all. The runners are tired but believe in his process and reasoning. They want to peak in the postseason, and they are confident as their training tapers down the week before the SUNYAC championship, that they will be in a great position to leave it all on the course in New Paltz.
It is a full system of training, lifting and recovery for the runners this season. Smith was not satisfied with the team finishes at SUNY Canton this past weekend, but again the meet did not hold much meaning on the overall season, and he is confident for what will happen when the runners break through this current fatigue for the meet in three weeks.
“The workouts that we do will be more sharpening workouts,” Smith said. “To help people be prepared to handle that pace in the race at SUNYACs.”
Graphic by Patrick Higgins | The Oswegonian
