As the Spartan cross country team travels from meet to meet, course experience and knowledge play a key role in success.
Every Sept., the University of Tampa cross country team hosts the annual Early Bird Classic at Dover Hills, posting strong individual and team performances.
The Spartan women have won the Classic four straight seasons, while the men have posted a top-three finish in each of the past four years. As UT keeps up their success at Dover Hills, the course experience has helped.
“It is definitely an advantage because we’ve run on the trails so many times before. I think it is more of a mental advantage because we know our way around it,” stated junior runner Lindsay Edwards.
Although hosting a race and having experience matters, race strategy and preparation for other races become important.
“Every course requires a different race strategy, whether it is going out faster or waiting to make a move somewhere in the race,” said sophomore Charles Toledo.
Toledo also mentioned how being familiar with an opponent’s course makes the team feel more comfortable. To ensure a certain degree of that comfort, the team sees and runs the course a day before race day.
Running on an unfamiliar course can be difficult to some, but the challenge can turn to triumph.
“Sometimes the race goes by faster because you don’t fully know what to expect,” Edwards stated. “Some of the courses are guessing games, but it can turn out to be an advantage.”
As the races start, team coaches are also on the sidelines helping the runners. When runners are full of adrenaline and concentration, coaches serve the players by informing them of how much longer they have in the race, and how hard they have to push a certain time.
As the team bounces from course to course, UT cross country Head Coach Jarrett Slaven believes there is not much of a home advantage.
“Cross country is a different sport than others. When a school hosts a race, there is a slight advantage of the home school. [However], talent usually wins the race at the end of the day,” said Slaven.
The Spartans hope to use their experience of Wickham Park on Saturday, Nov. 6 as the team travels for the Sunshine State Conference Championships in Melbourne, Fla. Wickham Park was the host of the Florida Tech Invite this season, where the women finished in first place while the men posted a third place finish.
The SSC Championships will be full of competition, with the top-two teams advancing to the NCAA South Regional in Huntsville, Ala. on Saturday, Nov. 20.
Preparation for the race has been extensive.
“Workouts have been difficult but very successful. We hope we can put it all together on Saturday,” stated Coach Slaven.
With a shot to advance to the South Regional, expectations are high, even with a current Spartan woman’s injury.
“I’m slightly nervous, [Kaia Hampton’s] foot has been bothering her, but I expect our team to win,” said junior runner Heather Nicolosi.
As the Spartan cross country team travels to conferences, they hope to use their talent and course experience to propel them into the NCAA South Regionals.
Michael Paonessa can be reached at mpaonessa@spartans.ut.edu.