兰辛 cross country closes out strong regular season

The 兰辛 cross country teams have consistently been towards the top of the pack. That trend has continued this season with Becca Lovenheim back at the helm.

Lovenheim, 自2016年以来谁一直是山猫队的主教练, 去年，梅根·麦克维(Meghan McVey)顶替了她的位置. She was ecstatic to return and lead a pair of top-notch teams.

“It’s always wonderful to be able to come back to them,洛文海姆说. “It was really hard to sit it out last year and I’m very grateful to 兰辛 for being so supportive of me personally, our student athletes and of course the families of our athletes and the community. The athletes themselves are just a really impressive bunch of humans, and so they worked hard. A goal of a coach is always to have a program be sustainable, 即使你不是最重要的, 因为这不是云顶yd222线路检测的事. 是关于孩子们的. 他们去年也这么做了.”

The Bobcats have shown no signs of slowing down, as both teams have won multiple meets. Despite some key losses due to graduation entering the season, Lovenheim is satisfied with where both teams are heading into the postseason.

“这是一个强劲的赛季，”洛文海姆说. “我对球队的表现很满意. We knew that we were graduating a lot of strong runners, particularly on our boys side. But we also knew that there was still hunger amongst our returning athletes, 所以很高兴看到他们成功了. 我们的训练正在按计划进行. 到目前为止，结果与预测一致. Our goal is always to make sure that we are coming through peaking at the end. Fall is a long season, and I’m pleased with how the training is going and the results thus far.”

The girls team’s crowning achievement so far was the IAC North Division title. They’ve also won meets at Groton, Trumansburg, and at their new-look home course. Lovenheim credited their strong cohesiveness for their phenomenal regular season.

“Part of it is that we have a really tightly-knit group of committed athletes. Girls rosters tend to be a little bit on the lean side because there are just so many girls sports options in 新 York in the fall, so we are really proud of the fact that we’ve consistently had a scoring team. 这意味着他们都必须真正投入. These are a group of kids who are doing a lot of other things, as well. 但他们已经确定了自己的优先事项. 他们为队友奉献. They feel a real sense of pride and wanting to make sure that there’s a team score at the end of the day.”

Kathleen Sullivan and Evelyn Jackson have emerged as the top runners for the Bobcats. Sullivan has taken the mantle as the number-one in place of the graduated Kinsley Jacobs. The junior has embraced her role as a leader and has taken the freshman Jackson under her wing as one of the premier running duos in the area.

“我觉得和她合作的每一季, 她变得越来越坚强, 无论是身体上还是精神上,洛文海姆说. “It’s really exciting to see how much she embraces her teammates as a source of energy… They run side by side through all the workouts, 通过所有的比赛, and then they just duke it out to see who’s gonna finish first. 这对每个人来说都是一个很好的榜样. We talk a lot about how you can care about your teammates so much and want to see the very best in them because it also brings out the very best in you and your team, 凯瑟琳体现了这一点.”

The boys team has also found success with consistent top-two finishes, including wins at their home meet and the Norwich Invitational. Leading the way is Trent Thibault, who burst onto the running scene last year as just a freshman. 他继续打破无数的学校记录, including setting the fastest time for a sophomore in program history at the Baldwinsville Invitational with a time of 16:17.3. That mark is also the second-fastest overall for 兰辛.

“He is very dedicated to this sport,洛文海姆说. “他是这项运动的学生. He knows about all of the runners who have made waves in the past and are making waves right now. 他对训练的科学很好奇. 他正在观察现在发生的事, and he’s doing the work it takes to hopefully be a part of that for many years to come.”

The Bobcats will look to carry over their regular season success into the postseason, starting with the IAC Championships on October 25 at Marathon.