A Team Which Runs Together Stays Together

Gritty and full of assiduousness.

Two words which describe the longest races available for college athletes. Races performed by the 36 student-athletes on Colorado State's cross country team along with the 2023 Mountain West Coach of the Year, Kelly Hart.

Easy is not the word the team uses to describe the 6k and 8k races they run, running hard each and every time continues to be their goal as the season develops further.

"For us, this championship season is really distinct from regular season," Hart said. "Every meet's a really big deal and we still want regular-season races to be important. I want them to compete hard. But there's a definite change in terms of level of intensity and how much we care about these needs. We all kind of talk about flipping a switch a little bit. You get to this point in the year and conference is a huge deal to us."

A switch which lights a fire underneath those who are preparing for the Mountain West championships on Nov. 1 at the Eisenhower Golf Club Golf Course at the Air Force Academy and shows up at their practices each and every day.

Graduate student Anna Petr's season best of 20:54.4 during the 2023 championships last year helped clinch the title for the women. The grind of open terrain and cold weather speak to the importance that fire holds.

"It's a gritty sport," Petr said. "Usually it's a little chilly, it's earlier in the day so we're kind of waking up with the day and a lot of the times, the weather is not ideal. So, it's gritty sport. It's hard and it's not super glamorous. It's not like there are stands packed with people cheering for us, but it's really special. And I think people don't realize how much of a team sport it is. We're all out there running for each other, thinking of each other, and that score is ultimately what's going to get us to nationals."

Running 3.7-5 miles starting at a line full of people. Some who complete the team, and others, who want the title just as bad as CSU.

However, in the past few years, CSU has solidified itself as a team which has a hunger for the national championship – an event where both teams have not competed in together since 2004 until Hart took the reins in 2022.

For the 2022 season, the team placed 25^th for women and 28^th for men nationally and those numbers continue to be chased by both. However, with all sports, progression upwards is the main objective.

"(It's) just keeping perspective with all of it," graduate student Lars Mitchel said. "Knowing at each meet we have certain goals and expectations that we want to execute. And, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. So, you learn from all that, but knowing that what matters is progressing throughout the year and racing your best at the end of the year. We're not chasing times or PR's. We're about competing and placing well at those championship meets."

The road to the NCAA's for cross country athletes is long and spaced out so one of the most important parts of their practice time is keeping a goal in mind.

In 2024, the team has had five meets all leading up to the Mountain West Championships. So, taking off the blinders and thinking big picture is vital to training.

However, this year, a transition of the roster and the additions of many new first-years, especially on the men's team, present a new set of challenges in the time allowed to correct mistakes in their performance.

"For the young ones, it's about stepping into what our program is," Hart said. "And saying, just because you're young doesn't mean you still don't hold yourself to high expectations and high standards. So, with the young ones, just help them understand how big of a deal conference is to us, what our team program is, and let them know even though they are young, we believe in them and we're ready for them to step up and help our opportunities."

With the men's roster including five first-years and the women's only two, newness wouldn't seem to apply to their team, but with many veterans leaving the roster last season, it's just as important to the women's team as the men's.

However, the experience women's cross country at CSU holds is different than the men's. They have competed in the NCAA championship for four straight years, so students like Petr know the environment of a national championship. It's the men's team that has focused on integrating those five first-years into a championship-winning roster.

"When I came into the program, I was one of the young guys," Mitchel said. "I saw the standard of how we train and compete and work out so it's keeping that tradition going because it creates a lot of success. And then still trying to communicate with the young guys as best as I can. I feel like I've definitely aged out to an extent. But just taking care of business every day and staying consistent, that's what makes you successful."

Execution of what makes this team a team also hold great importance to everyone involved. The points tallied at the end of the day affect each person and the races continue to be as mental as they are physical.

Taking one for the team could mean intentionally pacing slower for the greater good of the points in the end. For the teammates that run with each other day in and day out, it's a part of the tenacious sport they love.

"We do things together, that's what makes us unique," Hart said. "That's what part of this program is. They race for each other and it's a very unselfish program. You come here to be part of a group and not just be individually great yourself."

It's unselfish and calculated. Something which could get clouded with PR's and individual times but doesn't.

In this case, a team which runs together stays together, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

"It starts with training," Mitchel said. "How you work out together and what your goals are going into those workouts and (the coaches) emphasizing what we're working on today is working together and working with each other. So that means maybe one of us needs to go up further into the front of the race, but we're doing it because of the name across our chest, not because we want to beat each other."

The two words across their chests become wholly more important than the number on their bib. A pride in the team which takes them to the finish line every time, together.

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