After a short spring season of only two races, Winthrop hosted the Cross Country Big South Championship on Friday, March 5.
“I think that we have put in a great two months of training and we are ready to give it our all on Friday,” graduate student Olivia Paxton said prior to Friday’s events.
On Jan. 29, the Eagles earned a fifth place spot during the Adidas Winthrop Invite, and a couple weeks later at the Highlander Invitational on Feb. 12, Winthrop came in third place competing against Radford and UNC Asheville.
“It definitely feels a little weird having a cross country season starting in January when I’d normally be gearing up for track, especially when that season is so short. But it’s also a nice way to prepare for my goals for track season since we are rolling right into that,” junior Oliva Esselman said.
Ten teams took to the Winthrop Lake course where the women ran a 5K at 2:00 pm and the men followed with an 8K at 3:00 pm. Esselman came in 17th, setting a personal record for the first time since high school with a time of 18:34.7, and was named to the Big South All-Academic team.
Although “so much can just depend on the day, atmosphere, [and] headspace,” as Esselman said in regards to breaking her personal record, she was clearly more than prepared as she crossed the finish line 33 seconds faster than at the Adidas Winthrop Invite.
Esselman was one of two Eagles to finish in the top 20, following Paxton, who earned a sixth place spot with her personal best time of 17:49.8 and All-Conference Honors.
“The most memorable thing has to be just the feeling of excitement around racing again. The return to normalcy was huge for us; We’re just so happy to have these opportunities again,” Esselman said.
Paxton is hoping to return to Winthrop in the fall for another season of cross country, but if the NCAA does not grant her a sixth year of eligibility, she plans to transition her focus on training for a marathon.
Over on the men’s team, freshman Austin Spencer led the way, finishing in 24th place with a time of 25:27.4.
“My first season running for Winthrop has been great. Running in college is definitely much harder than it was in high school. Having to wake up at five or six to run for months at a time can be rough, but the coaching staff here at Winthrop has done a good job of helping us transition from high school to college,” Spencer said.
Not far behind was sophomore Jeremiah Boyd, who recorded a new career-best in the 8K with his 27:20.4 pace and was also named to the Big South Conference All-Academic team.
Overall, the Winthrop women’s team finished fifth and the men’s team finished sixth for the Big South Conference. Many of the runners will return to the Winthrop field on Saturday March 13 for the first event of Track and Field season, the Winthrop Dual/Tri Meet.
“I definitely feel our cross country training has given us a nice base to build on for track. Since it was fairly short, none of us should be worn out from cross country, but rather be in a good place to start scaling back a bit on mileage and incorporating more speed,” Esselman said.
“I look forward to helping the Winthrop Cross Country [and] Track and Field programs become stronger than they were before. I really believe in coming together as a team for a common goal, and I know how great it feels to accomplish something as one family,” Spencer said.
