November 22, 2010
At 3:30 a.m. last Wednseday the women’s cross country team left the Cedarville campus to go to Vancouver, Washington for the NAIA National Championship Meet. This is the race that we had been anticipating all year! We had been training long and hard for this particular meet. This is the last year for Cedarville to compete in this race since we will be moving into NCAA Division II. We knew that we needed to run our best and represent our school well in our last chance at this national meet.
While we were in Washington, we were able to see some of the sights and eat some amazing food. We also had some time to get used to the time difference before racing. We did have a lot of fun, but knew the whole time that our main focus was on the race. Coming into the meet ranked 12th, we knew we would have to work hard in order to meet our goal of being in the Top 10. We knew that this was an attainable goal for our team.
Rain is very common in Washington, and this was definitely the case when we first arrived. We knew that the course was going to be really sloppy and muddy for the race on Saturday. Part of this was because the course was one loop that we had to run around three times. When you have over 300 people running that course with 1"-long spikes for three miles when it has been soaked with rain for the past week, things are going to get a little messy. We were just thankful that on the day of the meet, there was no rain, and we were racing before the guys. This meant that the course would not be as torn up when we raced on it.
It is slightly intimidating when running in a race at full speed with 300 of the fastest NAIA girls being funneled together trying to get in front of each other and secure a good spot for the rest of the race. I know I must have looked a little Bambi-eyed. Once you get over the initial shock of being with the top runners in the NAIA, you have to buckle down and compete. Our team knew that we were racing to ultimately glorify God as well as represent our school. We all worked hard and did our best, despite the slop on the course. When we finished, we were definitely exhausted and out of breath, but knew that we had finished with everything we had to give. After we had met as a team, we found out that we had done it. We came in 10th place! We had met our goal for the meet.
There may have been a few that wished they could have raced a little differently, but overall this was an amazing season. I think we would all agree, that at the beginning of the season, we never would have thought that we would have placed 10th in the national meet.
God is so good!
November 15, 2010
Last Monday the final lineup for nationals came out. We are one of the thirty-two teams that will be heading to Vancouver, Washington for the NAIA national cross country meet! We really want to do well at the national level, and so we decided early on in the week that our top seven runners would sit out of the NCCAA championship meet this past weekend. This also gave an awesome opportunity for our next seven girls to have a more competitive race for their last meet of the season.
The girls that raced for Christian nationals were Jessica Smith, Katie Lanphier, Jen Hollander, Jasmine Banachowski, Laura Backer, Joanna Wheatley, and Tabby Moore. It was a beautiful sunny day for the race, which was kind of a shock being in the middle of November. Our girls went out strong and gave a good showing on our very own Elvin R. King Cross Country Course.
It is hard to believe that the season is almost over. This was our last week to practice as a team. Most girls are looking forward to indoor track, while others are ready to race this coming weekend in Washington. This meet comes with bittersweet excitement. On one hand, we are excited to represent Cedarville University at the NAIA meet, while also sad to see the season conclude. We will definitely miss the few girls that will not be joining us on the track.
It is amazing how cross country allows you to build strong relationships as a team. Maybe it is because you have so much time to get to know each other while on those 7-10 mile runs, or maybe it is because it is significantly smaller than our 80+ member track team. Either way, cross country is definitely a unique experience that has shaped us beyond athletics. These relationships, as well as many trials that we have faced during the season, has molded and prepared us for what we will encounter in the years ahead.
November 8, 2010
The AMC meet on Saturday was our final shot at qualifying for nationals. Either we had to come in first place, or we needed to be ranked higher than before. We were ranked 18th coming into the meet, and knew that the team needed to either improve their times, or stay consistent in order to move up in the NAIA rankings.
On Thursday, both the women’s and men’s cross country teams left for Houghton, New York. We left early in order for us to be able to have time to travel, see the course, and make sure that we had adequate rest before the meet. Coach Bolender really wanted to make sure that we were both physically and mentally prepared for this race. The night before the race, the team met with Coach Bo for devotion time and to talk about the meet. One thing we discussed was how we needed to trust in God and our training. We had been working hard this whole season and needed to leave it in His hands and not worry about the future. Our motto is to “Run for Him,” and that is what we had been doing the whole season. It was a great feeling to reflect on the season and see how far we had come. The whole team has grown in so many different ways.
Saturday morning we ate breakfast and left at 7:15 a.m. for the Houghton course. We had heard that it was supposed to snow the night before, but we woke up to perfect racing weather. When we filed out of the bus, the whole team was excited for the race to begin. A few weeks ago, the team had heard that the Houghton course was 200 meters short, and so we knew that our times were going to look a little faster than normal. We knew who our major competition was, and what times we wanted to run. Right before the race began, the team prayed together and talked about what an amazing opportunity it was for us to be running that day. None of us expected the race to go as well as it did.
Crossing the finish line our team had numerous PR’s. Some of them were Rachel Wong (17:58), Erica Hoff (18:22), Carolyn Case (18:38), Grace Campbell (18:50), myself (18:54), and Tabby Moore (19:45). Some of us were a little skeptical as to whether or not those times truly counted as personal records because of the rumors of the course being short. What we did not know, was that the course had been changed recently to make it an accurate 3.1 miles (5K), and we had all run legitimate personal records at the AMC race. When we heard this, there was a ton of hugging, laughing, and jumping up and down in excitement! We had done exactly what we had come to do. We raced with everything that we had and give God the glory for it.
We all were still a little nervous to see whether or not we had raced well enough to make it to nationals. We had come in second place at the AMC race, which meant that it was up to the raters to let us move on. Sunday night there were crowds around every computer, just waiting for the rankings to come out. Around 9:00 p.m. there was a ton of cheering going around because the women’s team had moved from 18th to 12th! That was exactly what we were hoping for. We are pretty sure that this will qualify us for nationals, but find out officially tonight. We are all praying that we will be able to go, but we know that God is ultimately in control.
November 1, 2010
All last week we were anxiously waiting for the rankings to come out. When Wednesday finally rolled around, we all were pacing around and praying that we would finally move up. Our goal was to be 19th or higher because that is how many of the top-ranked teams went to nationals last year. On Wednesday our coach came by and told us that we had finally moved up to 18th!!! Our hard work had finally paid off.
We are still unsure if that will qualify us for nationals, but we are prepared to race hard in the conference meet this upcoming weekend. Conference is going to be held at Houghton, New York. We have heard many rumors that the course is significantly short of a 5K, and that it is a very flat and fast course. We all know that we need to run our best at this meet if we want a shot at NAIA nationals. We leave this Thursday for New York, where we will be traveling with our guys cross country team for the first time. This will be a fun experience for us all.
Apart from the rankings, this week was very interesting. We could not get a break from the nasty weather this week. It seemed like every day that we had a hard workout; it would be freezing cold, raining, and windy. It was not a fun combination.
On Tuesday we ran repeats out on the course right after the “all clear” sound alerted. We were all a little nervous because of the tornado sighted only a couple hours previously. With the rain and wind slapping us in the face we were able to finish our workout only to find that almost every other CU sports team had held their practice indoors. When it was all done, we felt like we accomplished something. We have no idea what the weather will be like in our next couple meets, so practice in the awful weather only made us stronger. We will be more mentally and physically prepared for whatever comes our way. AMC here we come!
October 25, 2010
Everything happens at a fast pace for the Cedarville women’s cross country team. This week was no exception. Wednesday the NAIA rankings came out, Thursday a team meeting, Friday the race was approved and booked, and Saturday we raced.
This week there was more than a little tension after we heard that we moved from 20th to 21st in the rankings. We knew that this might be a possibility since we ran a 6K instead of a 5K the previous weekend. A couple girls on the team took the initiative to ask coach if we could race at Aquinas that coming weekend. We knew that we did not have another race until conference which was 3 weeks away. By then, it would probably be too late to move up in the rankings. On Thursday, Coach Bolender set some of us aside and discussed the possibility of a race. Aquinas would not let us enter their race, but there was a spot available at the Walsh meet. We were all quick to jump at the chance to go. We knew that we would be racing against the clock at this meet. All of us were a little nervous because we knew that this could potentially put us further down in the rankings. We knew that everyone would have to want this race and walk away with significant PR’s (personal records) in order for us to move up. Coach told us that he would think about it and talk to everyone to make sure that we should go to the race.
On Friday we had our answer. We would be racing in North Canton, Ohio the next day. At 5:45 a.m. on Saturday we pulled out of CU in a 12 passenger van (with 12 people) and headed to our meet. We were able to take our top eleven girls to the meet. Three hours later we made it to the Walsh course. Some of us wandered our way to the VIP Port-A-Potty, while others stretched their legs.
The team was instantly excited to race. The weather was perfect, and the course was flat. All the conditions seemed to be going our way. Two hours later we all stepped up to the line with the same goals in mind. We were there to glorify God with the gift he has given us, as well as race with everything we had. God was definitely with us at the race because coming through the finish line almost the whole team came away with major PR’s. Rachel Wong finished first with an 18:10. Neola Putnam, Hannah Lamos, and Erica Hoff were a pack that finished right around 18:35. Grace Campbell finished in 18:56, meaning that our top five girls were all under 19 minutes. This was a huge breakthrough for our team.
Carolyn Case was finally able to race her first 5K in months, and ran a 19:08 to place sixth on the team. Other major PR’s came from Jessica Smith and Tabby Moore who broke the 20 minute barrier. Even Jen Hollander and I were able to run PR’s. After we all hugged, jumped up and down, and celebrated a little, we were able to meet with the Malone team and pray with them. This was an awesome way to end the race. We had done what we came to do. We raced with all we had and gave God the glory and praise for it.
October 18, 2010
When first looking at the schedule at the beginning of the season, I realized that we had a meet over fall break. My first reaction was, “You have got to be kidding me.” Needless to say, I was not excited. When it came closer to fall break, my initial reaction had changed. Coach told us that we were all going to Bowling Green a day early in order to relax and stay in a hotel. This made us all excited because it would be our first overnight trip as a team this year. We really did not know what to expect, but we were all ready for the break to come.
When classes were over on Wednesday, we all were really excited to be able to relax and have fun as a team. We were some of the only people left on campus during the break. Some used that time to catch up on sleep and homework, while others used the time to do a little outlet shopping. On Wednesday night, the team met for a prayer meeting where we had yummy desserts and girl talk. The meeting ended up lasting for three hours.
On Friday we left around noon for Bowling Green. We took our shiny new bus and watched the movie “Letters to Juliet” along the way. When we arrived, we found ourselves at a very nice Hampton Inn. While we were waiting to leave for dinner, 16 of us decided to play Pictionary. This was hilarious. After that, coach took the team to a restaurant called SamB’s. The food was absolutely amazing. This was one of my personal highlights of the trip. When the meal was over we all went back to the hotel and had a team meeting. Afterwards we all relaxed and hung out, getting mentally prepared for the race the next day.
In the morning we all headed out to the golf course at Bowling Green State University, where our race was held. The weather was perfect. There were 17 teams in all at the meet. The interesting thing about this race was that it was not a 5K, but a 6K. This made it a very different race compared to what we were all used to. Even though it was longer, it was really fun because there was great competition. The only negative thing that the team found was that you practically had to hold your breath when running up the hill and around the only lake on the course because it smelled terrible. We were not sure exactly what the smell was from, but it certainly smelled like a million rotten eggs were buried under the hill. On a positive note, our team ended up finishing 5th out of 17, which we were all excited about.
Also, Carolyn Case is finally back and running with us. It was such a blessing to have her healthy again. For our first major out of town experience of the year, we definitely had an awesome time. I am so glad we ended up having a meet over fall break after all.
October 11, 2010
What qualifies someone as a truly amazing cross country runner? I believe it is when you can run an 18:36 with both walking pneumonia and bronchitis. Rachel Wong qualifies for such a title. This past week Rachel went to the doctor for the second time, where she learned the news of her condition of having both pneumonia and bronchitis. The whole team marveled at how she was able to do so well at the All-Ohio meet. We had noticed that for a couple weeks that she had acquired a nasty cough. It had gotten so bad that our teammates (who live in the same hall) were able to recognize when Rachel was coming near, based on the sound of her cough. Rachel has had to take a couple days off this past week and started an antibiotic, but is expecting a full recovery for our next meet. What a trooper!
Our next meet is this coming Saturday at Bowling Green University. This is an NCAA Division I meet where we all will race a 6K instead of a typical 5K. We are all looking forward to this meet. Carolyn Case is probably the most excited. She has been recovering from sickness and an iron deficiency, and will finally be able to race at Bowling Green. This will be her second race of the season. She has been counting down the days until race day (NO JOKE).
In other news, the Cedarville women’s cross country team has moved up in the NAIA rankings once again, putting us at #20. Indiana Wesleyan is still currently ranked ahead, but that only makes us more ready for the challenge waiting ahead. We are all getting into our competitive spirit and have been training hard, looking forward to Conference, Christian Nationals, and hopefully NAIA Nationals.
October 4, 2010
277 runners stepped up to the line for the women’s varsity race of the All-Ohio meet this past Friday. With over a thousand athletes all together, this was the largest sporting event Cedarville has ever hosted. This is the first time that the All- Ohio meet has been held at CU. The whole team was excited to see how this meet would play out. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was 70 degrees and breezy, a typical day for a cross country race.
For those of you reading this blog and did not come to the meet… you should have been there. The team took running to a whole new level this weekend. It might have been the weather, or the fact that there were so many participants to run with, but I believe the reason that we performed well was because of our training the past couple weeks.
We have all been working hard, and that has shown in our times this past weekend. Most of the team was either close to their normal time, had a season best time, or even a personal best time. Here are the top seven results:
*Rachel Wong - 18:35
**Neola Putnam - 18:59
**Hannah Lamos - 19:07
**Erica Hoff - 19:10
*Grace Campbell - 19:39
*Meghan Terrell - 19:43
Jessica Smith - 20:28
*Denotes Season Best Time **Denotes Personal Best Time
In the open meet there were also many personal achievements. Tabby Moore had a major college PR of 20:20, beating her Friendship time by over a minute. It was fun to see our team do so well together. All the glory goes to God. He is the one who has been alongside our team this whole season. As we say before every race, we, “Run for Him.”
September 27, 2010
We are moving on up! This past week the rankings came out again. Last time we were ranked 24th in the NAIA polls, but now have moved up to 21st based on our performance at the Friendship Invite at Cedarville. Once again, the rankings seem a little off. We are excited that we moved up, but are confused at how we are still ranked behind Indiana Wesleyan. We beat them at Friendship by over 20 points just last weekend. This seems a little weird to us all on the CU womens’ team, but we are up to the challenge. Unfortunately, we will not race them again until NCCAA’s, which is held here at Cedarville.
As a team we are getting stronger each and every week. We know that you get out whatever you put into your training, so we are working hard at each practice. Coach talked with the team recently saying that it is all the extra little things you do in your training, like nutrition and stretching, that help your performance in the long run. We also met with our chaplain Becky Grant this week. She is a great encouragement to our team and keeps us focused on our goal of serving Christ in our running.
This week of training has been especially brutal. It managed to get up into the low 90's last week. One practice we did a steady state run, and Coach Williams had water for us to drink half way through. We were able to practice our cup grabbing skill while on the run. One person on the team (Hannah Lamos) was especially excited about practicing this maneuver after having failed at it during a 5K race in the spring. It looks like Coach is preparing us for our future marathon experiences. As much fun as the water run was, we are all looking forward to the cool weather that fall brings us.
We are ready for another great week of training as well as the All-OHIO race on Friday. This is the first time that this race is being held at Cedarville University. I know that we are all excited for it to be at our home course. Last year there was talk that the course was brutal. It will be nice for us this year because we are very comfortable with our home course. With the training we have been doing recently, I think we should do well at this race as well as see us move up in the rankings.
September 20, 2010
The rankings do not say it all. This past week the women’s cross country team trained hard and looked forward to our first home meet. On the 15th the new rankings had come out, and we were all excited to see where we stacked up against other NAIA teams. Our excitement was short lived when we realized that we were still ranked 24th behind Indiana Wesleyan who had not yet raced this season. When Coach Bolender received the news of the rankings, he was quick to tell us that we were a better team than the rankings showed. We were easily persuaded.
With the rankings in mind at the race, one of our goals was to beat the girls in red. Indiana Wesleyan was ranked 19th. At first we were all a little worried about how we would stack up against the other team because we were a couple runners short. We were missing Carolyn Case and Abby Wong, as well as having a few sick girls racing. Despite the odds, we were able to pull out a fantastic race. Even the heat did not slow the team down. Having the race at home was to our advantage. We have practiced on it for a few weeks to try and get a feel for the hills, turns, and footing. When it came time to race, the team was well prepared.
Rachel Wong led the Lady Jackets on the course finishing in 3rd place. Not far behind were Hannah Lamos and Neola Putnam at 9th and 11th. Following in behind was Erica Hoff, Grace Campbell, Jessica Smith, and Jennifer Hollander finishing for our top seven. There were many girls that had their personal best time this race. Sarah Moody cut a whole minute off her previous best time. Individually this was a great meet for many on the team.
As we all were on our cool down, we were reflecting on how we thought the meet had gone. We were all completely oblivious to the fact that the scores had already been added up. All of a sudden, Coach Bo came out of nowhere and told us that we won the Invitational! We all were jumping up and down and giving hugs to everyone around. It was amazing because as we received the news, our previous coach, Coach King, was right there to join in on the celebration. Needless to say, we were pumped! The rankings may be an important factor in cross county, but they do not show what our team can accomplish. We leave that up to God, the only one we are running for.
September 13, 2010
Another week of training has come and gone. We did not have a meet this past week, but are all looking forward to our first home meet this weekend! We are really hoping for a big fan club at the Cedarville course. If you are reading this, come on by, and bring your friends.
This past week has been sort of crazy. The team has had a little bit of sickness roaming around. We are all thankful that it has come during an off week, and are all striving to get healthy again. For those that were feeling well, this was a strong week of training. I believe that we will all be stronger for the second meet of the season than we were for the first. It seems like it takes a meet or two to figure out how to run a 5K again.
One exciting thing that happened was that we met with our Team Chaplain for the first time. Becky Grant is a mother of six and is going to meet with us throughout the season to help us grow spiritually as a team. We are all really excited to have her and to learn from her experiences!
September 7, 2010
Mt. Everest, the Himalayas, and Riffle Park in Dayton, Ohio all have one main thing in common. They all have a huge hill. Ok, so the hill that the Cedarville cross country team had to run up and over not once, but twice, may not have been as big as Mt. Everest, but you try and run it. It certainly seemed like a daunting task to maneuver, but the team successfully managed to race to the top.
Other than the massive hill, the course was beautiful. There were plenty of trees, a personal favorite of mine to run around. There was even a little creek, or “crick”, that we had to jump over and then through. All of this combined made it a very interesting course to run. It was the perfect cross country day as far as weather was concerned. It was finally below 75 degrees with a slight breeze. We could not have asked for a better day for our first meet of the season.
This being our first meet, we still have some things we need to work on. There were definitely some pre-meet jitters that the team had to work through. We were all excited and nervous to see how the team would look. We did pretty well for our first outing. We raced against many NCAA Division I teams, and were able to hold our ground. In our division, we came in second with Rachel Wong leading the team at 17th. Not too far behind, were Neola Putnam and Hannah Lamos at 26th and 35th. There were also quite a few personal bests at this meet. With one meet down, we are even more excited to see what God has for us as the season progresses.
September 3, 2010
A new cross country season has finally begun! It was just two weeks ago when the team started moving into their new dorms and settling in on campus. We held our first meeting and instantly knew that this year was going to be different, but exciting.
There are many people that we are going to miss: Lydia and Katie, our two All-Americans from the previous year, as well as the legendary Coach King and Mrs. Coach, whom hold a special place in all of our hearts. These people were our leaders and our friends. We will miss them, but we also realize that God still has big plans for our team this season.
When our team first heard that Coach King was retiring, we were all in shock. After 41 years of loyal service as a coach, he was turning the team over to one of his previous athletes, Coach Bolender. As nervous as we were, it was a big blessing to receive a coach that most of us already knew from the track season.
The transition has gone very smoothly, partially because he already knew Coach King’s style and philosophy. In addition to the coaching transition, we also received Coach Bolender’s wife, Sharie, as an assistant coach. I am sure we will learn a lot from this powerful duo.
Another transition that occurred this year was that the JV and Varsity teams combined. At first, a lot of us had mixed feelings about the situation, but those feelings are long gone. Once camp week hit, the relationships we have made within the combined team has made it worth the change. I think the mixing of the two groups will only make us stronger.
Our team verse represents what we want to accomplish this year. Hebrews 10:23-25 says, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
This shows how our main goal is to encourage one another this year in our walks with the Lord. There is something so much bigger than running, and that is the hope we have in Christ. We want to make glorifying God our main goal this season, and hold one another accountable in our actions. We are going to be much stronger together as friends, teammates, and fellow believers than we would be apart.
We are all very optimistic about how the season will progress. Now that two weeks of intense training are over, we are ready to tackle our first meet this coming weekend in Dayton.
Meghan Terrell is a Dean’s List student as a nursing major from Fort Wayne, Ind. The sophomore was an NCCAA Outdoor All-American on the track last spring in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.
