Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

November 21, 2016

Hello! It’s hard to believe that our 2016 season of XC is over! It’s been a crazy season, one that really challenged us and pushed us. I told you all at the beginning of the year that our goal for the past four years has been to make DII nationals. We never really had a goal beyond that until this year. With each race, I think we realized that we had the potential to really do well this year. When we raced at regionals, we had the race of a lifetime. It was absolutely perfect in every way, and all of us did exactly what we were supposed to do. We moved up in the national rankings, and as we trained for nationals, we had the goal of Top 5 in the back of our minds.

When we arrived in Florida and got the chance to run the course, Coach told us he thought the course would be a little slow. It was a hilly, sandy, winding course and the forecast for the day was much hotter than we were used to. Even with this in mind, we were still determined to give it our all. For us, it wasn’t enough to make it. We had worked so hard, and we knew we had the potential to do well. And we did give it our all on race day. But our racing strategy didn’t quite work for this race. We normally go through the first mile a little conservatively and pick it up the rest of the race. But this race was so jammed packed with people, and so curvy, we had trouble passing. It was a frustrating experience for all of us, simply because we couldn’t run our race how we wanted to. In hindsight, we probably would have altered our race strategy a little, knowing what we know now.

After thinking about the race this weekend, I’ve decided that’s just kind of how life is. We prepared the best we could, we gave it our all, and on that day we were the 11th-best team. Maybe on a different course, or on a different day we could have done better. But you don’t really get do-over’s in situations like this, and at the end of the day you need to be content with what you accomplished. We had a whole season full of amazing races, and I hope that none of the girls let one mediocre race overshadow everything they accomplished. I am so proud of my teammates and how far we’ve come. I’m thankful that God gave us the opportunity to even run at nationals, and I pray that he’ll continue to bless us as we transition to track.

This season was filled with moments where we realized we were stronger and capable of more things than we ever dreamed of. I think that we will forever remember the lessons we learned these past four years, as we worked really hard for a singular goal and never, ever gave up. Thank you to all the parents, fellow students, coaches, family members and faculty here at Cedarville who supported us every step of the way. Thank you to the women’s basketball team who sent us a fruit basket at our hotel to let us know they were thinking of us. Thank you to Coach Bolender, who took us from a group of average runners to a group of average runners who learned that hard work, perseverance, and teamwork can go a long way. Thank you to Coach King and Mrs. King for the constant support and encouragement. Thank you Kathy Freese for your support and your wisdom that you’ve shown us your last two years being our Team Chaplain. Thank you to the family and teammates who drove/flew hours and hours to watch us run in Florida, and at our other meets. And most of all, thank you to my team for being the most amazing, supportive group of girls I have ever met.

I am so sad that I am done running cross country here at Cedarville, but I am so grateful for every girl on the team I have gotten close to in my last four years running here. Praise the Lord for an amazing season of accomplishments!!!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

**and shout out to Mr. Dunn for probably being the only person who has read this blog the whole year! :)


November 15, 2016

Hello!

This week our team was a little divided. Our Top 7 stayed here in Cedarville to practice, and our Next 7 drove to Mississippi for the NCCAA Championship Meet! It was a long drive, but from what I heard the girls had a great time! Nicole Perez earned All-American honors with a 15th place finish, in a collegiate PR time of 18:55. Kacy Dunn was close behind with an 18:57, and Carly Rose was 21st in a 19:22. Abigail Snyder (19:26), Bethany Norman (19:31), Mary Kearney (19:37), and Rachel Groh (19:57) finished out our Top 7. The team finished third overall in a very competitive meet, and it was great to see some of the seniors pull out great times for their last race of their collegiate careers! The rest of the team was super proud of how the girls performed this past weekend!

The remainder of the team spent the week training for the NCAA DII National Meet in Florida! It has been a surreal week of training as we try to get past the excitement of making the national meet and focus on competing well. We leave for the meet on Thursday morning this week, and we would definitely appreciate you prayers for safe travels and a successful meet. It has been an amazing season for your Lady Jackets, and we’re hoping for an equally successful end to it!

Thank you for all your prayers and support!


November 8, 2016

Hello, my name is Kacy Dunn. I am a senior Communication major on the team and also one of the captains this year. What an honor it is to guest blog this week with some exciting news! But first, I'd like to give a quick shout out to this blog's loyal following of around four people. Extra special shout out to one of those readers, my dad, who was actually the one to inform me sophomore year that we even had a team blog. If you are reading this, you are a true fan. Congratulations!

In 2013, our team was not what it is today. We were full of potential, but our young team struggled with transitioning into college running and nagging injuries. At the final meet of the season, the Midwest Regional in Wisconsin, our entire team didn't even finish the race. (I will never forget the image of passing Olivia Esbenshade during the race, as she was unconscious and curled up like a sleeping fawn in a pile of leaves.) We finished 21st of 27 teams. Our men's team finished third and snagged a spot to Nationals. Throughout the season, we'd seen the hard work and dedication they'd put in to get there. As we watched them celebrate, I remember talking with my freshmen teammates about how we hoped someday that would be us.

In 2014, our regional meet moved to Evansville, Indiana. Our mantra that year was "RTBR" or "Running to Be Ranked." Our team was progressing and our goal was to break into the Top 10 teams at Regionals. The course at Evansville was flatter than the year before and thankfully, all of our runners made it through the finish line. We got 10th place, reaching our goal for the season.

Last year, we were hungry for Nationals. Our region, being one of the most competitive in the country, was giving six spots for Nationals. This was more than ever before. In Evansville again, the competition was strong and we finished in 7th place - one spot short of a trip to Nationals. Missing Nationals by one spot was frustrating, but our girls ran well and gave everything they had. Though it did make wearing our shirts with the number 6 printed on the back a little more awkward...

2016 was our year. Our team is strong and having been so close to qualifying last year, we wanted that National meet more than ever. Our Top 7 went into Regionals with a plan. Physically strong and mentally focused, the girls pushed themselves with determination through the race. As the rest of us cheered from the sidelines, we could see the fight in their eyes.

Our team had 7 big PR's this meet. Carsyn Koch and Olivia Esbenshade led the team together with Carsyn finishing at 21:01 minutes, followed closely by Olivia with 21:03. Next was Kayla Casaletto with 21:33, Hailey Blackwell with 21:37, and both Alaina Spears and Olivia Kundo with 21:47. Christy Jesson finished up the Top 7 with 22:09. Our team CRUSHED IT. In 2013, the first girl on our team finished with a 23:12. Now our Top 7 are all around 22:00 minutes or under. Amazing!

Our team was huddled together when we received the news. We got SECOND PLACE IN THE REGION, meaning WE ARE HEADING TO NATIONALS! The photo posted below depicts the moment of pure joy and happiness. We're Florida bound, baby. Pack yo' sunscreen.



From 21st to 2nd place, our team has come a long way. From freshmen to senior year, it has been an honor to be a part of the journey. Our team would never have gotten to this point without hard work, Coach Bolender, and ultimately the grace of God. As sophomore Abigail Snyder wrote so well in a post, "Racing a 6K is by no means easy, and it's only by God's hand of protection from injury, mental and physical strength, and grace that these girls were able to race their hearts out today, and achieve the goal that we've all had on our minds..." Though making it to Nationals has always been our goal, ultimately our priority is to honor God in our efforts. He was honored with 21st place and He is honored with 2nd place. He was good then, He is good now, and His grace abounds!



Thank you, CUXC, for the memories over the last four seasons. This trip was definitely one to remember. We celebrated on the way home by watching Narnia (#ThatsSoCedarville), ranking the attractiveness of the characters (Here's lookin' at you, King Peter.), and eating too much dessert.

The season is not over for us! Please pray for our team as some travel this week to Clinton, Mississippi for the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Championship. Our Top 7 will race again in two weeks at NCAA Nationals in St. Leo, Florida.

May we continue to run for Him!


November 1, 2016

As the season starts to wind down and finals draw near, Coach likes to give the girls on the team the maximum amount of time to study. He always tells us that your body doesn't differentiate between the stress of illness or a hard exam and the stress of a hard workout, so it's good to keep the stress levels as low as possible to ensure our best performance!
 

This means that we only met for practice twice last week, and one of those days was 6 a.m. on a blustery Friday morning. To make the prospect of waking up at 5 a.m. on what is normally our day off to run repeats in the dark a little more appealing, we decided to have a costume practice. A few girls participated, running through town on their warm-up jog dressed as cats, rabbits and super heroes. Some of us chose to stick to more traditional clothes. And some girls had their costume fall to pieces as soon as they started running, and sadly arrived to the workout costume-less (Shout out to Kayla Casaletto - RIP "girl trapped in a box"). It was definitely a practice that we all cherished, as we realize that in a few weeks our season will be over.


This week, as we prep for our regional meet in Indiana we're focusing on resting up and coming into the race with a strong mental focus and determination. It makes me nervous to think about everything that is riding on this race, but at the same time I know all of the girls are very well prepared and ready to run their hearts out this Saturday. We would appreciate your prayers as we depart this Friday and travel with our men's team to Evansville, Indiana. It is usually a really fun trip for us filled with PR's and good memories, and we're hopeful that this year will be no different.

Thank you for all the love and support this season! Stay tuned for results this weekend!






October 27, 2016

Hello everyone!!!

 

This past weekend was our G-MAC Championship at Malone University, and we continued our winning streak by racing to the honor of "G-MAC Champions" for the fifth-straight year. The conditions certainly weren't ideal this past weekend, and our victory definitely was not easy. We were up against another nationally-ranked team, Malone, as well as several excellent individual runners from other teams. It was a cold, wet, windy, muddy day the morning of our race. We had jogged the course the day before, and it was full of steep hills and uneven terrain. We knew from the start that our times were not going to be anywhere close to what we had been running due to the harsh conditions. We instead set our sights on the competition and our plan for the race.

From the very beginning of the race, we could tell our splits were a lot slower than previous races, despite our best efforts. It was hard to not let that faze us, and each of us tried to focus on running a smart first mile. We came through the first 2K mark, and we could hear the announcer telling us that Malone was in the lead. Although that was a little discouraging to hear, I had full confidence in my teammates that by the end of the race the results would be showing a different team in first. Sure enough, throughout the race every girl pushed themselves and worked to pass an opponent every chance they got. I finished, and as I turned around to watch my teammates sprinting in behind me, I heard the overhead speakers announcing our fifth victory. It was definitely satisfying as a senior to be part of four years of a five-year winning streak.

There have been years where we barely won and it came down to the finish, and meets where we pulled out our top four girls and still won. Every year that we've won, I would never say that it came easy for us. We always come into each championship with the realization that we have to work for a victory, even if some years it may seem easier than other years. We've been the team to beat out the favorite and cause an upset so many times, that I am always aware of the fact that the moment we become complacent is the moment we get sloppy and don't perform well. We're trying to keep that in mind as we head into our regional race and try to run a race that will earn us a spot at nationals.

Everything

comes down to that one day, and everyone has an equal shot at NCAA II Nationals. It's intimidating, but it's comforting to know that we put in the work this whole season. If we just go out there and do what we've been doing all season, we can only do our best and know that God has a plan for us, whatever the result.

We had four girls earn All-Conference First Team honors (Olivia Esbenshade, Carsyn Koch, Hailey Blackwell, and Kayla Casaletto) and two girls earn All-Conference Second Team honors (Olivia Kundo and Christy Jesson). Almost all our girls were about a minute off of their PR's so I won't put their times in here :).

**A special shout-out to Coach Katie Ruhlman for filling in for Coach Bo at this meet! It's always hard to race without Coach being there, but Katie did a greet job communicating with us and supporting us this past meet, and the entire season. We're so thankful we have her as a Coach!

Please pray for our team as we start to taper this week and begin to set our sights on Regionals! This will probably be a stressful race for some girls since it is such an important one, so pray for peace of mind as we race next weekend! Thank you for all the support and prayers you've given our team this season! We really appreciate all the family members and loved ones who have really encouraged us this season!

Have a great week!


October 18, 2016

This past week was a pretty uneventful week for the Cedarville Women's Cross Country Team! We met for practice one day this past week, and then all headed home for fall break. It was nice to have a few days of rest and relaxation, and take a break before we head into the G-MAC Championship this upcoming weekend!

We leave for Malone on Friday and compete on Saturday morning. This is our last meet competing with all of the girls, and for a lot of the girls this is their last meet for the entire season! It's a little bit bittersweet, but it has been an exciting season for us. We are currently ranked #6 in the nation for NCAA DII, and we are looking forward to racing again this weekend! Please continue to keep our team and our injured girls in your prayers as we look to finish this season on a high note!

Have a great week!



October 11, 2016

This past weekend our team traveled to Wisconsin for the Wisconsin-Parkside Invitational. We left bright and early Friday morning, and loaded our gear onto our brand new buses. We don't travel as much as other teams, so team trips are always a fun way to get to know each other a little better. We spent our bus-ride studying, watching movies, playing games and talking. We finally arrived in Wisconsin, and our first stop was a Factory Tour of Jelly Belly. While it was a little different than what we expected (it consisted of us driving around an empty warehouse on a train and stopping every few seconds to watch informational videos on various screens), it was definitely an educational experience and we all enjoyed it!

Our next stop was the Cross Country Course. We usually try to jog each course we race on the day beforehand so we can get acquainted with our surroundings and the different markers on the course. So with our bellies full of jelly beans, we explored the course. For me as a Senior, this brought back a lot of memories since we had competed on this course my freshman year for our regional race. I spent the run reminiscing with my fellow Seniors about our freshman year, and feeling a little sad that our season was coming to a close. We finished our run, headed to Olive Garden for a quick meal, showered, and promptly went to bed.

Race day dawned a little chillier than what we had been accustomed to back at Cedarville, but was beautiful and sunny nonetheless. Since our season goal is to qualify for DII nationals and our team has been running very well so far, Coach decided to pull five members of our Top 7 from this race. Olivia Esbenshade, Kayla Casaletto, Hailey Blackwell, Olivia Kundo, and Alaina Spears did not compete this weekend. However, the girls that did compete really did a great job! The Top 7 for this race consisted of Carsyn Koch, Christy Jesson, Nicole Perez, Kacy Dunn, Carly Rose, Rachel Groh, and Mary Kearney. Christy Jesson and Nicole Perez both had career bests, and Christy PR'd by over a minute! **Special shout-out to Mary Kearney for finally reaching her goal of breaking 24 minutes! She has struggled with a lot of injuries over her running career, and it is awesome to see her run such a great race and hit her goal! She ended up running a 23:56! Our team placed 3rd out of 12 teams, with six of our Top 7 being in the Top 25! Our next race is the G-MAC Championship at Malone next weekend, October 22.

Thank you for all the prayers and support throughout the season! We have a few girls who are still dealing with injuries, so we would appreciate continued prayers for them. We would also appreciate your prayers for wisdom on the part of Coach Bolender has he starts to taper us for our post-season, and prayers for good health and strength as we continue to train.


October 4, 2016

This past Friday, we had the honor of hosting the All-Ohio Championship on our very own Elvin R. King Cross Country Course. In my four years of being here, this race always seems to be plagued by torrential rain and cool temperatures. In past years, we have had to combine the Varsity and JV races to avoid lightning, hail, etc. On this occasion the coaches made the decision to keep all of the races separate, but as we warmed up for the first race of the day, the Varsity women's race, we could see ominous dark clouds gathering above us. Our Varsity squad is determined based on our times and placement on our team, and it often varies a little bit throughout the season. Thankfully, for a majority of our races this season, the whole team is able to race together without being separated.

For this past weekend, our Varsity squad consisted of Olivia Esbenshade, Hailey Blackwell, Kayla Casaletto, Olivia Kundo, Alaina Spears, Carly Rose, and we added in Carsyn Koch for her first race of the season! As we finished our warm-up routines and huddled together at the start line, rain started to fall from the sky. It was a cool, breezy, fall-like day, and despite the prospect of poor weather we had a huge turnout. There were 43 women's teams in attendance, representing DI, DII, DIII and NAIA. We also had the honor of having Clayton Murphy, USA Bronze Medalist in the 800 at the 2016 Olympics in attendance!

Although the ground was a little mushy and soft from the previous days of rain, the footing was not horrible for the Varsity race. All in all, the cool temperatures and large turnout made for a quick, competitive race. Our Varsity girls helped lead the team to a third-place overall finish, and a first-place finish out of all of the DII/NAIA schools. The finishing order was Olivia Esbenshade, Carsyn Koch, Kayla Casaletto, Olivia Kundo, Hailey Blackwell, Alaina Spears, and Carly Rose. A lot of these girls ran their PR's, or very close to their PR's.

**A special shout-out to Kayla Casaletto. She had an amazing finish to her race, passing several girls to finish in a 22:27. This is over 30 seconds faster than Kayla ran at the All-Ohio Championships last year in 2015, where she ran a 23:07. It was also a PR for her! Coach has been having us work on our finishing kick, and clearly it is paying off for Kayla!

As soon as the first half of our race had crossed the finish line, it began to downpour. We had to clear the area due to lightning strikes, and all of the following races were pushed back 30 minutes. By the time the rest of our team got the chance to run in the open race, the course had transitioned to thick mud and the temperature had dropped a little. Despite the rough conditions, a lot of the girls ran very well! Congratulations to Christy Jesson who came in first for our JV girls, clocking in at a 23:42 and finishing sixth overall in that race.

Our team is traveling to Wisconsin this weekend to compete at Wisconsin-Parkside. Pray for safe travels and a good meet! This is our last meet before our conference meet, and a lot of the girls are hoping for a fast race to prep them for our G-MAC Championship!

Thank you for all the prayers and support this season! It has been rewarding to see years of hard work culminate into a great season, and we hope to continue this trend as we head into our post-season in a few weeks!

Have a great week!


September 27, 2016

If you've been following our team this past week you might have noticed that we moved up in the USTFCCAA DII Women's Cross Country Coaches National Poll after our win at the Friendship Invitational. We are now ranked 11th in the country for NCAA II! We are so excited, and as a senior it has been incredible to see how much our team has improved and matured in the last four years. We're a totally different team than we were when I stepped onto this campus my freshman year, and we can totally attribute this change and success to the grace of God, hard work, great teammates and excellent coaching! We hope to continue to improve as we continue working and racing throughout the season!
 

This past weekend, we took advantage of our weekend off to bring the women's and men's cross country teams together for a night of good food and fun. Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood (parents of Tyler Greenwood, senior on the men's team and a fellow blogger) provided us a much-needed escape from Chuck's with grilled chicken, taco salad, their famous jello-jigglers, cookies and whoopee pies. We then spent a beautiful fall evening playing football, corn-hole, can-jam, and relaxing around a bonfire. It was a welcome break from the busyness of our lives and the stress of college. A special shout out to the Greenwoods for hosting us! They've given us the opportunity to have this gathering for the past four years and the women's team is very grateful to them.

As the weather gets cooler, the wind picks up and the leaves start to tumble to the ground, it begins to feel more and more like cross country season is truly beginning. Something about stepping onto the course and running a workout in the crisp air, with the wind fighting you every step, really fills your mind with a flurry of thoughts about upcoming races and the goals you have. Fall just really puts me in the mood to run a race and finish hard, with my legs splattered with mud and numb from the cold, and my lungs aching from breathing in the icy air.

We have our All-Ohio Championship race this upcoming Friday, and we hope that this fall weather continues throughout the week so we can toe the start line invigorated and inspired. I would encourage all of you to come out and support both the men and women's teams as they compete against teams from all across Ohio. The varsity races (with the Top 7 competing) will be at 2 pm and 2:45 pm on Friday, with the women's team running before the men's. Stick around to cheer on the rest of the team in the women's open 6K at 3:30 pm and the men's open 8K at 4:15 pm.

Thank you for all the prayers and support! Continue to pray for unity in our team as we compete this season, and that our focus would always be on Christ as we try to reflect him in our actions and words each and every day. Also continue keep our injured runners in your prayers!

Have a great week!


September 20, 2016

Hello!

This past Saturday was our first home meet, and I was reminded of how much I love competing on our home course! We do so many repeats and tempo runs on our course that most of us could run it backwards in our sleep. Occasionally we get bored of running there so much, and long for a change of scenery, but I think most girls on our team treasure the opportunities we have to race on the course! Our course is always pristine for race days. With its gentle rolling hills, neatly trimmed grass, and billowing banners it's definitely my favorite part of our home races. The bright blue and yellow streamers tied to each post crinkle gleefully in the wind, and there's a buzz in the air as our friends, professors, and family members cheer us on at every turn. All of these factors almost guarantee our anticipation for each home meet every year!

If you've been following our results at all this year, you've probably noticed that our girls are stronger than ever, and are running their races with a fierce determination. Some of you might have noticed that the USTFCCCA ranked us 14th in NCAA DII out of all of the women's cross country teams. It's a little confusing to try explain the way our ranking system works, but basically we impressed someone with our first meet of the year and they moved our ranking up 11 spots. While we were definitely ecstatic when we got the news, in the long run rankings don't mean anything. What matters is the regional race and how we compete on that day. The races this season are great dry runs for our team as we try to solidify our varsity squad and practice running each race with the same determination we would run our regional race.

This past weekend was no exception! Our Top 5 averaged a 5K time of 18:36, and were all within 25 seconds of each other! Our top seven finishers for this week were Olivia Esbenshade, Hailey Blackwell, Kayla Casaletto, Olivia Kundo, Alaina Spears, Carly Rose and Christy Jesson! Our women's team finished 1st out of 10 teams, beating out the second place team by 35 points. It was definitely a successful day for us, and we're very excited with the way our team is progressing this season.

**Special Shout-out for Hailey Blackwell and her awesome finishing kick! Most girls on our team really try to work on having a strong finish to their races. Hailey pushed herself and her teammates to great times with a fierce effort at the finish line, finishing only a few seconds off her PR!**

Our next meet is another home meet in two weeks (Friday, Sept. 30), the All-Ohio Championship meet! We definitely love seeing cross country fans and supporters at our meets, so if you have the time, be sure to come out and cheer us on! Continue to keep our team in your prayers, as a few girls are still battling injuries! A special thanks to all the people who helped make our course beautiful for this past meet, and who work on it all season! We love it, and we're so thankful!


September 15, 2016

Hello!

I always love when we have a weekend off without a meet. I love getting to sleep in a little bit on Saturday, and not worry about what I'm eating at supper Friday night. I love going on a long run with my teammates Saturday morning, and being able to spend the day doing homework or hanging out with friends. However, with that extra day of freedom comes the assurance that the workouts in the days preceding the weekend will be extra hard since we don't have to worry about being fatigued for a race. This was definitely true this past week.

Since it has been pretty hot and humid here, Coach moved our workouts to Wednesday and Friday morning. I'm definitely a morning person, so I don't mind waking up early to run. However, two days of waking up at 5:00 a.m. to run a hard workout wears you out a little. We had to be warmed up and ready to start our workout at the track at 6 a.m., so for a lot of us that means running 2-4 miles beforehand to get in our mileage for the week. I woke up Friday, stepped out the door, and was immediately drenched with rain. I love running in the rain just as much as the next person, but running in the pitch black in pouring down rain at 5:00 a.m. is not the most enjoyable experience.

However, one of the things I'm always trying to work on in my life is having a good attitude no matter what the situation. So I jogged down the street, sloshing with every step, and tried to get myself excited for this workout. The girls were all standing at the start line at 6:00 a.m., drenched and sleepy but ready for another intense workout. We were doing mile repeats, and I think a lot of us were feeling the effects of our workout from Wednesday. However, once we started I think a lot of us were surprised with how good we felt.

I have to say, this season I have seen so many of the girls push themselves so hard in workouts. It has been awesome to see the determination on their faces, and to watch everyone work as a team in workouts to support and encourage one another. Though we still feel the sting of missing nationals by one place last year, I can see it in everyone's eyes that they want to redeem themselves this year. Whenever I think back on past seasons, I always remember workouts like these. The dark, uncomfortable mornings where we run repeats until our legs are tired and our lungs are burning. They draw us closer as a team and strengthen our determination to get better and better.

So while you might hear us complaining about the 9 miles we ran this morning before you were even rolling over to hit snooze on your alarm, deep down a lot of us like those morning practices. Like Coach always says, it's those little things, like waking up early to hone your discipline, that make you a better athlete. Hopefully, you'll be seeing the positive effects of workouts like these when we return to the start line of our home course bright and early this upcoming Saturday!

Congratulations to Grace Norman on her gold medal in the Triathlon at the Rio Paralympics and her bronze medal in the 400 meters! We are so unbelievably proud of our teammate!

Please remember to be praying for the injured and sick girls on our team! We have a few who haven't been able to compete due to injuries. And finally, continue to pray that we will glorify God in our actions and words this week, and continue to be united as a team. Thank you for all your support and love! We hope to see you at our race this Saturday!


September 6, 2016

Hello again!

This was an exciting weekend for our team because it was our first race of the season! For the freshmen, this means running their first 6K! In high school, most of us competed in the 5K in cross country, so it's a little bit of an adjustment. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but the main thing is remembering that this is closer to a four-mile race than a three-mile race now, so being conservative in your first mile will go a long way.

Coach always tells us "you can't win a race in the first mile but you can definitely lose it." For the returners, this means putting to test all of our summer training and seeing where we are at in terms of goals for the season. A lot of us write down our goals for every upcoming race, but the first race is always a little nerve-wracking because we aren't quite sure what are bodies are ready to do!

It's been an intense last week of practice, but when it came to race day, I was so proud of how all of the girls performed! We drove to Voice of America Park in Cincinnati early Saturday morning, piling in our trusty and recently repaired minibus. There were definitely a lot of nerves, as we sleepily ate our bagels, bananas and juice (courtesy of Chuck's), and thought about our upcoming race. It was a beautiful morning for a race, with cool temperatures and no wind or oppressive heat. Our warm-up jog was filled with a lot of jokes and laughter, as usual, but the minute we returned to the team camp area to stretch and put on our spikes, the serious faces and pre-race jitters returned.

We did our pre-race routines, circled up for a pep talk from coach and a prayer, and then squeezed into our Box #1 at the start line, waiting for the gun to go off. For me, there's always that split second before the gun goes off where I contemplate why I put myself through the nerves and the pain for this sport, when I could be in my bed sleeping like any other college student at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning. The minute the gun goes off though, I forget everything except the race and my teammates around me.

It was a beautiful course, spectator friendly and fairly flat with three big loops. We had the luxury of having a lot of fans at this meet, so it seemed that someone was cheering us on at every corner, which is very encouraging in a cross country race. When we all finished the race, we stood in the finish chute, talking to other runners and trying to get a picture of how the race went for our team as a whole. We were extremely happy with how our team did!

I'll give you a quick summary, but if you read the write up of the race on the website, you can get the full results. Our team placed second behind Ohio State, beating out NCAA DI schools like Cincinnati, Wright State, Northern Kentucky, and Xavier. Our Top Seven for this week were: Olivia Esbenshade, Kayla Casaletto, Olivia Kundo, Alaina Spears, Hailey Bredeson, Nicole Perez, and Carly Rose. Our Top Seven were all within 42 seconds of each other, and when we compared this race to our first race last year (disclaimer: it was a different course), our entire Top Seven would have finished before our top finisher last year! The team as a whole just looked really strong, and I was so proud of all of them!

A shout out and thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Dunn for having our whole team over to their house for lunch after the meet. Also thank you to all the parents, family members, boyfriends, and friends (and Coach King and Mrs. King!) who came out to cheer us on and encourage us! We really love seeing you all there!

Keep praying for our injured and sick girls on the team, and for Grace Norman as she heads to Rio for the Paralympics! And pray that we are a light for Christ as we travel and compete this season!

That's all for now!

Olivia



September 1, 2016

Hello to all the CUWXC fans and family members out there! We're really excited for another season of Cross Country to start up again! My name is Olivia Esbenshade, and I will be your team blogger for this season! This is my senior year on the team, and while I'm sad my time on the team is coming to a close, I'm really excited to see what this season has in store for us as a team! I'm going to start by first introducing you to our team. While we lost a few seniors (who we miss a ton already!!!), we have a lot of returning athletes, and you'll see a lot of familiar faces when you come out to watch all of our exciting races!

First off are our Freshman! We have Rachel Davidson, Krista Green, Olivia Kundo, Breanna Spears (sister of our own Alaina Spears), and Anna Thayer! We're very excited to have all of these lovely ladies join our team, and cannot wait to see how their season unfolds!

Our Sophomores are Erin Ashley, Kayla Casaletto, Mackenzi Clemens, Gabby Johnson, Abigail Snyder, and Grace Flint (who is joining us for her first season with us!).

Our Juniors are Christy Jesson, Carsyn Koch, Paige Logan, Anna Parkinson, Carly Rose, Alaina Spears and Alice Hamlin (who is also joining us for her first season on the team!) On a side note, Jodi (now married, and formerly Davis) Johnson will not be competing this season due to injury. We'll miss her at our practices!
 

Finally, we have our Seniors! The recently married (and formerly known as Bredeson) Hailey Blackwell, Kacy Dunn, Rachel Groh, Mary Kearney, Bethany Norman, Nicole Perez, and myself.

This was our first season with an actual camp week, and it was an exhausting but really fun experience! In addition to practice every day, we did a lot of fun team bonding activities. Some of the highlights of the week were running to Clifton for breakfast (I think only two or three girls successfully ate one of their two massive pancakes), tie-dyed t-shirts, a cookout at the home of the wonderful Norman family, and our traditional canoe trip. It was pouring down rain, and Grace and Anna T. flipped their canoe twice, but as always it was an entertaining trip.

Our girls have been working really hard this pre-season. The long runs and hard workouts in the hot sun have definitely tested our summer training and mental toughness, but when we focus on our goals for the end of this season, it is definitely worth it. Last year our goal was to make it to DII Nationals, and to do that we had to place sixth in our region. We ended up placing seventh, but our goal again for this season is to make nationals. This year we need to place fifth, and that is definitely motivating us all on a daily basis, among other things. We would appreciate your prayers for a successful season, and more importantly a season that draws all of us closer to God and allows us to learn a little more about Him. Every season I've been here, I have seen my teammates experience amazing triumphs and crushing disappointment. What has really been inspiring for me though, has been watching these girls use these situations to learn from it, draw closer to God and encourage their teammates, and I am hopeful that this season will be no different!

Our first meet is this upcoming Saturday in West Chester, Ohio! If you're in the area, feel free to drop by! The Cedarville website will be updated with our results, so be sure to check in and see how your CUWXC Jackets do!

Finally, our teammate Grace Norman, a freshman on the track team and a red shirt XC member is leaving to compete in Rio next week for the Paralympics!!! Keep her in your prayers and be sure to cheer her on!

That's all for now folks! #RunForHim


Olivia Esbenshade is a senior from Marietta, Pa. and a Dean's List student majoring in nursing.