The Winthrop Farm was filled with colorful jerseys as runners from Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Longwood, Presbyterian, Radford, UNC Asheville, USC Upstate and Winthrop took to the field on Jan. 29.
On the crisp, 45-degree Friday afternoon, the nine teams competed for the first time in almost a year in the 2021 Winthrop Adidas Cross Country Invitational.
Earlier in the week, the 2021 Big South Preseason Poll ranked Winthrop women’s cross country 6th and the men’s 7th in the conference. Although still a bit nervous with the ongoing pandemic, Coach Ben Paxton said “it’s good” to be hosting meets once again.
“It’s the right call. I think our students are doing what they need to do,” Paxton said.
The men ran an 8K with a collective score of 174 and the women followed with a 5K score of 136, resulting in a fifth-place win for both Winthrop teams.
High Point led the invitational with the women scoring a 22 and the men with 25. USC Upstate came in just ahead of Winthrop for both divisions, while Winthrop beat out Presbyterian, Longwood and Gardner-Webb.
Throughout the afternoon, all teams remained socially distanced from each other and the spectators. Athletes were required to wear masks any time outside of the race itself.
“Obviously when you’re running you’re not going to wear a mask because the NCAA lists cross country as the lowest of impact sports. Those protocols could change when we have conference in March again as well. We’re learning every day,” Paxton said.
Junior William Metcalf-Shull was the first Eagle to cross the finish line, setting an 8K personal record of 26:54.3 and coming in 19th out of 67 racers. The men’s team for the 2021 season is very young, with four freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors.
“I feel for the freshmen because they’re going to school in a situation that none of us had to do, with mostly Zoom and hybrid classes. We’re trying to get some normalcy for those freshmen,” Paxton said.
Leading the Eagles in the 5K was junior Olivia Esselman, finishing in the top ten with a time of 19:07.2.
Unlike the men, the women’s team has athletes of all ages. Along with three freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors and two seniors, graduate student Olivia Paxton has joined the team.
“We have one athlete returning to us for grad school, and that’s my daughter who was the conference champion, so we have some leadership on her behalf,” Coach Paxton said.
Although Olivia Paxton did not race in the invitational, she was one of the top runners at William & Mary the past two seasons, so she will no doubt be a great asset for the team.
Many families and students attended the event, clapping and cheering through their masks for the runners. Signs reminding the spectators to remain masked up and socially distanced were scattered around the field as well.
“Normally we do five cross country meets throughout the year, and we’re doing three this year following the NCAA protocols. [It’s] free to the public, as long as you’re socially distanced and masked. We could go for the cheering, I think the kids would like that,” Paxton said.
The Eagles’ short spring season continues at the Radford Tri Meet on Feb. 12 and ends with the Big South Championship at home on March 5.
