This past weekend, the men’s and women’s cross-country teams hosted the annual interregional meet. The women competed against 35 teams and finished 27th. The men competed against 40 teams and finished ninth.
The team raced against some nationally ranked teams, and in the mens case, finished within the top ten schools. Augustana’s seniors Grant Ackard and Finbar Martin finished 23rd and 24th out of 264 runners in the men’s 8000M gold race.
“It is really cool to see just how we stack up against strong competition,” Martin said. “I think we are a solid team. We have strong runners, and it is cool to see if we can place high against them.”
With hosting one of the biggest meets of the season, the cross-country team had the opportunity to not only have raced against, but host potential national champions.
“It’s not something I would normally think about,” said junior Ellie DeFarno. “I think that it’s neat that I get to say that people who might win nationals are coming to my school and running.”
The interregional meet is the first step that the team takes to get to regionals and, hopefully, send some runners to nationals. By ranking somewhat high at the meet, the team hopes to help secure an open bid to nationals. The higher the teams rank, the more points they will accumulate to help secure these at-large national bids.
“If we can place high at these big meets against these nationally ranked teams, it helps our case to qualify the team for nationals,” Martin said. “Just to show that we can compete with high-paying teams.”
While hosting nationally ranked teams, the Vikings had home course advantage. The meet was run at Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island, Augustana’s home cross-country course. Both teams hosted a pre-meet to get to know the course and all of its twists and turns. This gave them a “leg up” on the competition in some ways.
Knowing the course helps runners better understand where the mile markers are, how to pace the race and who to stick by during the long run. It also helps them get a feel for the course and how it will affect their bodies. This helps them better prepare and visualize what the race will be like, whereas opponents may not know the course as well.
“We try to get into a good mindset of being at home, getting to run this course that we have already run before,” junior Rylee Noack said. “I think seeing the course before everybody is there and being able to visualize being mentally strong in a race and digging down to that next level during the final stretch – visualizing that before everybody else gets the chance to do that [helps our mindset].”
After the interregional meet is completed, both teams head into the second half of the cross-country season. The early meets help the athletes get used to cross-country racing and running as a team. They help the team get accustomed to the distance and team dynamics.
The first half is for figuring these things out, while the second half is for putting these pieces together for overall team success. Now, both teams are putting the practices into competition and seeing the results of their hard work.
“I’m gonna push [my teammates], and they’re gonna push me,” DeFarno said. “The second half is actually seeing how it is gonna pay off.”