The Occidental College men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Minnesota Oct. 2 to compete in the Division III Pre-Nationals, also known as the Running of the Cows. The meet took place Oct. 4 and gave six players from both the men’s and women’s teams the opportunity to race on the course that will host the NCAA Division III National Championships in November.
Head coach Rob Bartlett said one of his goals for the trip was to introduce the team to conditions and competition they could encounter at the national level.
“It’s called Pre-Nats, but really that just means the preview of the national championship,” Bartlett said. “The only rule is that the courses need to be 6000 meters for the women and 8000 meters for the men. But you can functionally do anything in that distance, so there’s a lot of variability in what courses look like and the kind of challenges that they present while you’re competing on them.”
Bartlett said the team’s experience racing in Southern California differs significantly from what runners encounter in different parts of the country, and the Minnesota course presented the team with an opportunity to learn how to adjust to unfamiliar conditions.
“What we experience in cross country in Southern California is an anomaly,” Bartlett said. “The rest of the country’s experience of NCAA Division III cross country is very different from ours.”
Jack Elfenbaum (senior) said the race was an opportunity to represent Occidental College on a national stage.
“As a freshman you’re coming into sports with a dream to go represent the school on a big stage,” Elfenbaum said. “Finally achieving that is weird, because I’m not feeling satisfied yet. I’m feeling like, ‘All right, what’s the next thing I can do to keep pushing myself?’”
According to Elfenbaum, he normally has a more careful racing approach, building up speed as the race goes on. Elfenbaum said at Pre-Nationals, however, he adjusted his strategy and pushed himself to run faster from the beginning.
“It doesn’t matter about conserving [energy],” Elfenbaum said. “You can just push through. That grit is something I am not very used to.”
Adelaide Mazzeo (first year) said she entered the race as an alternate — stepping into another runner’s position — and felt responsible for making the most of the opportunity.
“There were big shoes to fill knowing that I was going in someone’s spot, so I wanted to make sure that I did the best I could,” Mazzeo said. “I wanted to respect their spot.”
According to Mazzeo, the Running of the Cows marked her first collegiate race, as well as an increase in distance, pressure and competition.
“It feels like a high school race, except everyone’s [an] adult now,” Mazzeo said. “You’re looking around and you’re like, ‘Okay, that’s a grown man, that’s a grown woman.’ […] Of course, it’s college, so it’s serious, but it’s funny how not different it feels. It kind of feels like home, and it’s something you’re used to. […] You’re on a start line, you’re going to run the distance.”
Mazzeo said her teammates helped push her through the difficult moments of the race, and that being alongside them, especially Lucy Toft (senior), gave her encouragement during rough patches.
“The girls team racing together does a really good job of supporting each other,” Mazzeo said. “Mid-race when it is really hard [mentally], I was looking over at Lucy, and she was telling me to smile and keep going.”
Bartlett said he wanted to highlight performances by Anne Madole (junior), who recorded a lifetime best, as well as Victoria Vahi (first year), Gavin Jansen (sophomore) and Emil Lev-Twombly (first year).
“Anne Madole was our second place runner,” Bartlett said. “She had a lifetime best, which […] is particularly impressive. Victoria Vahi was number one — she did really well, I was impressed with how she competed. On the men’s side Emil Lev-Twombly [and] Gavin Jansen did particularly well. There were absolutely some individual highlights in there.”
According to Bartlett, the team’s experience in Minnesota was valuable because of the competition, but also because of the lessons the runners learned and can take into the rest of their season.
“I didn’t go [to Pre-Nationals] for us to perform wonderfully, because given everything I just said about how different the experiences are racing out there, I kind of knew that we were going to struggle with that a lot,” Bartlett said. “That struggle and the learning that will hopefully come [with it] was really the point.”
Contact Gray Sheridan at gsheridan@oxy.edu
