 "Photo: Christopher Mitchell/ sportsphotos.com")
The Macalester women's cross country team wrapped up its season this past weekend at the NCAA Division III Central Region Championships in Waverly, Ia. The team placed 17th out of 27 teams but saw strong individual finishes from several runners. The Mac Weekly sat down with Emma Swinford '12, Anna French '13, Skyler Larrimore '12, Devon Kristiansen '12, Eliza Leahy '12, and Coach Betsy Emerson to talk about the season and the team.
TMW: Describe your fall season.
Emma: Major improvement coming into the season and throughout the season. Lots of young talent.
Coach Emerson: Overall I thought we had a successful 2011 season. We started with 40 women and 37 raced in the last meet at the Conference Championships. This alone says something about the commitment we had from our women to stay with the team throughout the season, and we were lucky to not lose many women to injury. In our Conference Championships we had 17 women run an all time personal best for their career and another 5 women race to a season PR. Having so many PRs at the end of the season is indicative of the hard work and dedication these women devoted to our season.
Anna: This fall was a really fun season. For me personally, it was the first season that I actually started to enjoy racing. I have always liked running but wasn't necessarily that into the competitive part. That definitely started to change this season.
Emma: And we had beautiful weather!
Anna: It was the first year that I have been on the team when we haven't had to run a race in the snow.
TMW: What were your goals (individually or as a team)?
Coach Emerson: Our team certainly wanted to improve in our conference standings at the Championships meet, and we actually finished in the same place that we did last season. We felt that we could beat a few more teams in our conference and actually did that in a few early season meets but at the MIAC meet we were unable to finish ahead of them. With that said though, the women collectively ran much better than they did at that meet last year and certainly showed signs of overall improvement.
Skyler: For each meet, we set a goal to increase our rank at the meet from the previous year. We also set a team goal to choose one rival for each meet to really make an effort to pass or compete with fiercely during the race. It's easier to focus when you give yourself a trigger for really using all the effort you have.
Coach Emerson: I think one major goal I had for the team was to see them get physically stronger and they definitely demonstrated that throughout the season with great help from Steve Murray and his assistants in our strength training.
Anna: Also, as a team we really pride ourselves on having the most fun out of all the teams that we compete against, and I can say with confidence that we achieved that this season.
TMW: What are you most proud of this season?
Coach Emerson: The improvement of so many of our runners and their commitment to getting stronger and being more competitive in our meets. When I started coaching here last year I felt that this group of young women had no idea how good they could be - that they just needed to really find a way to tap into their potential as runners. I still feel that our team has a ways to go in terms of really being confident and realizing that they can not only be great students but they can be great runners as well at Macalester. I do think we are making progress!
Anna: I would say that the MIAC conference race stands out as a super-proud moment. It was a really inspiring day, over half of the women on the team ran either all-time or season PRs which is a big achievement.
TMW: What was the toughest course?
Coach Emerson: That's a tricky one because what one runner deems tough another may really like. In some ways I think the course we run at Como Golf Course for Conference is very tough because it has some tight turns and a good hill and there is a bit more pressure in that race. I also think for some, the course we ran for Regionals in Waverly, IA is tough because it is flat and essentially cut out of a big alfalfa field, and there are really long straightaway stretches at the start and finish and no hills to speak of. Some runners don't do well with those courses at all, they'd rather have lots of hills.
Anna: The toughest course was definitely Griak at the U of M. So many switchbacks and rolling hills that never stop. The whole time I was just thinking about all the ice cream I was going to eat later! I'm glad there's only one more time that I ever have to run that course.
Emma and Eliza: The Griak course at the University of Minnesota is notoriously hilly, but the nice thing is that it's a huge meet and really close so there are lots of fans – the atmosphere makes up for the hills!
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