We have not seen our shortage of successes this fall. Friday was cross country’s turn to get in on the action. This has been a culture-changing season for our men’s and women’s cross country teams. Coaches Rick and Mary Wilson brought a new attitude to the program so Friday was a measuring stick to see if that change of attitude was making a difference on the course. The Wilson regime had already paid dividends this fall way before Friday. The men’s and women’s teams have quickly become a part of the Erskine athletics family. They have shown up at athletic events donning their cross country apparel as they supported other teams. They have run in mass through the streets of Due West (which of course landed us in hot water with the local police force). You could see a pride developing amongst the team this fall which was not readily apparent in the past. So Friday was not a tell-all for what kind of season it has been but it certainly would benchmark progression. It was a pretty good benchmark.
Erskine cross country records fell by the wayside at McAlpine Park in Charlotte on late Friday afternoon. Liz Loftis broke Jessica Martin’s school record 5k with a 20:02. Liz didn’t even run cross country at Erskine as a freshman but her improvement this year has been dramatic. Only seven seconds behind her was Katie Henderson at 20:09 and only 11 seconds behind her was Katie Moore. With the females running in the low 20 minutes, they have all three knocked huge times off their career best this season. The men’s 8k record fell as well on Friday as junior Chaz Culbertson broke Adam Groblewski’s record. Chas’s all-conference performance knocked 1:20 off his personal best this year but that was small compared to Robert McCarthy and Matt Diaz who shaved 2 minutes off their personal best. The signal from the cross country championships was clear; Erskine cross country will soon be a force to be reckoned with inside the league.
Runners are definitely a different breed. The sport they love is often used as a punishment by coaches for other sports. I don’t know much about running. I have for the past 25 years been a jogger, but running and racing is something foreign to me. I can go out and jog 10 miles without much problem, but ask me to run any of those 10 miles under a certain pace or try to catch someone going up hill, and you will not find me too interested. I have a comfort zone in jogging, which is a far cry from being a runner. Because of that I have enormous respect for cross country runners. What they do to test their limits is incredible. Regardless of the weather or how they might be feeling that day, they push on. There is no comfort and little fanfare. I applaud our cross country program this season! I think we may have a new nickname for you guys, the "Flying Feet".
