By Kiley O’Donnell
Staff Writer
The St. Bonaventure men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Richmond, Virginia, this weekend to participate in the Atlantic 10 Championships.
Senior men’s captain Ben Collins talked about his past A10 Championships and how he can take his experience from his previous years and apply it to Saturday’s race.
“I didn’t perform as well as I wanted to last year, so that would be one big goal, to make an improvement from last year,” said Collins. “I would love to set a PR [personal record], especially because it’s a good course. It’s supposed to be pretty fast, and I would also love to see us improve from last year; so whether that is overall time or improve our number as far as place on the team.”
Collins said how he’s preparing for the meet.
“I guess for me it would be relaxing,” said Collins. “Last year, I went out a little bit faster, so it’s just having confidence in myself to know that I can run a good time.”
Sophomore George Laraia also has previous experience from the A10 Championship. He said he feels more comfortable with understanding the course and how he can help newcomers adjust.
“I know what to expect going in. Knowing the course is huge,” said Laraia. “So is telling the others the course is fast and that the teams are going to go out.”
For William Delaney, it will be his first ever A10 Championship.
“I’m just hoping I run better than my personal best for the 8k,” said Delaney. “For the team, just place as high as we can and for everyone to have a good day. We didn’t have an all-around great day at Gettysburg, but I think we can really knock it out of the park this weekend.”
He also talked about the team’s preparations.
“Every day at practice we have just been doing our drills and workouts, and we are always working towards what we have to do,” Delaney said. “It’s just making sure we’re in shape all around, mentally and physically, and eating wise; just making sure we take care of the little things.”
For the women’s team, junior captain Hailey Gattuso talked about how they have been preparing for the meet and how she expects everyone to do their best.
“I think those who are healthy are in the best shape they have been all season. We’ve all been working really hard,” said Gattuso. “I expect everyone to do their best or close to it. I think it comes down to being a mental thing. We all just have to get our heads in the right place.”
Stephanie Barry and Sydney Beeman, both freshmen and first-time runners at the A-10’s, discussed their physical preparation for this weekend’s meet and how it will be a team effort.
“We’ve been taking it down a little bit, just focusing on all the easy mileage and still running 40 miles a week and doing easy workouts rather than straining ourselves because we’ve been working really hard this season,” said Barry. “We’ve had a lot of injuries so far but I’m hoping all of us work hard to overcome the weaknesses we’ve had and do well.”
This weekend, it will be the team’s last time officially running all together in a race.
“For myself, I just want to run my best time, PR [personal record] and just finish with a good race for the season,” said Beeman. “Some of our other teammates aren’t going to regionals, so for a team we want to run together for the last time. I think we will do well because of the workouts Coach MacFarlane has put us through.”
The A-10 Championships for both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will take place this Saturday in Richmond, Virginia.
odonneke16@bonaventure.edu
