There are multiple sports at Winthrop University that draw crowds of cheering fans to encourage our athletes to do their best. The common elements that each of these teams have is perseverance and the encouragement of their teammates to improve.
The Winthrop men’s and women’s cross country teams competed amongst twelve colleges at the 36th annual Winthrop/Adidas Invitational with a Men’s 8K and Women’s 5K on Sept. 14. Held at Winthrop Farm, all twelve colleges competed on a beautiful morning with numerous friends and family cheering them on and giving a sense of high spirits for the Winthrop home course. Winthrop Cross Country Coach Ben Paxton commented that the goal for the cross country team this season was to place in the top three in the Big South Conference and how the recent invitational helped show improvements in our team.
“[I] felt that women’s team stepped it up with one of our top five runners not being able to compete. The other ladies ran much better than our opener at Coastal,” Paxton said.
According to Winthrop Athletics, the men’s team placed eighth overall and the women’s team placed third overall, pulling off an impressive effort for the meet. Paxton noted the training of the team helps players build up for the upcoming races.
“The team is in the middle of a high volume training cycle. Our ultimate goal is to perform best when the weather cools and we enter our championship season,” Paxton said.
Junior exercise science major and Winthrop athlete, Zachary Hoyt, commented on how the recent invitational was important for new and veteran members of the cross country teams to learn what they can improve on.
“I believe that in the future meets that we a team as a whole will begin to run a lot better because our freshman performed very well especially after this weekend being the first 8k for a lot of them,” Hoyt said.
Among the twelve colleges that participated in the invitational were Coastal Carolina, Marshall University and Charlotte University, which all competed at the Winthrop Farm and provided entertainment for family and our faculty at Winthrop University.
“It is always great to showcase the Winthrop Farm area and our course which we feel is one of the best in the country. Our student athletes got to run in front of family, friends and a huge faculty turn out led by Dr. Mahoney and his wife,” Paxton said.
The invitational also sparked some ideas for how both cross country teams can improve not during practice but through the bonds they have as student athletes.
“Some improvements that both teams could make are running as a group, staying together as a pack and pulling off of each other when we are tired,” Hoyt said.
Besides the physical aspect of practice on building endurance for athletes, the Winthrop cross country teams focus on the aspects of pushing themselves mentally and physically.
“Our coach stresses that a lot at practice that it is something we need to continue working on as a team. Some ways we have trained is my running tempo endurance workouts such as 1000m intervals, hill fartleks, and steady state 6k-9k runs. These types of workouts mentally push us to run at a higher level of performance mainly because the capacity of this sport is more mental than anything else,” Hoyt said.
One of the inspirational moments of the invitational was a comeback for Hoyt, who enjoys the fact he can continue doing what he loves and has a coach that can help him improve himself every meet.
“I am still in the process of bouncing back but I have come a long way from where I was shortly after my injury which is something. I’m grateful for during my time so far running at Winthrop,” Hoyt said.
The Winthrop cross country teams will compete again in the Panorama Farms Invitational on Friday, Sept. 27, hosted by the University of Virginia.There are multiple sports at Winthrop University that draw crowds of cheering fans to
Photo:
Provided by Winthrop Athletics
