Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: SEAN WALLACE; SPORTS EDITOR
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — The St. Bonaventure University women’s cross-country team will compete in the Atlantic 10 Championship on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m. at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia.
Senior Chloe Fisher, a health sciences major from Hamburg, New York, spoke about the team’s expectations next weekend.
“Our biggest expectation is to compete to the best of our ability and leave everything we have on the course,” said Fisher. “We want to see the hard work we have put in throughout the summer and season come together on race day. Individually, we want to run with confidence and execute our race plans. As a team, we want to support one another and see how high we can finish. Regardless of the outcome, we want to walk away knowing that we gave our best effort and represented Bonaventure well.”
Fisher finished at the top of all Bonnies runners in the last two meets with times of 23:12.7 at the Lock Haven Invite and 22:27.5, a personal best, at the Aubrey Shenk Invitational.
Junior Naina Slaughter, a criminology major from Morristown, New Jersey, also shared her expectations for the meet.
“I expect to race a lot of fast girls, including my own teammates, but I know that will push me to be better and to race faster,” said Slaughter. “I would not be able to continue to be better each week without my teammates and competition challenging me. I also expect our team will leave it all out on the course and really show how much we have all improved as a team this year.”
Slaughter finished fifth among all Bonnies runners with a personal-best time of 22:58.2 at the Aubrey Shenk Invitational.
Freshman Sydney Dunn, a health sciences major from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, spoke on her mindset heading into the meet.
“My mindset heading into the race is to run for my teammates,” said Dunn. “We run best in races when we run as a pack and push each other. My strategy is to once again follow the lead of my upperclassmen and be confident in my training foundation.”
Dunn placed sixth out of 20 Bonnies runners with personal-best time of 23:09.6 at the Aubrey Shenk Invitational on Sept. 26.
Graduate student Madeline McKillop also spoke on her mindset heading into the meet.
“I am approaching this meet the same as any other meet in the regular season,” said McKillop. “I am trusting in our training and looking forward to good competition that will push me to compete to the best of my ability.”
McKillop placed third among all Bonnies with a personal-best time of 22:56.7 in the Aubrey Shenk Invitational.
After finishing in the top 10 in each of their last two meets, the Bonnies will look to build on their success at the Atlantic 10 Championship on Oct. 31.
