Coming Attraction: Previewing The Conference Championship Course

This past Friday was the Falcon Collegiate Invitational in Bowling Green, Ohio. In two weeks, that same Bowling Green XC Course will host the Mid-American Conference Cross Country Championships.

Though the competition wasn’t the same this past Friday, as it will be on October 28 when nine men’s teams and 12 women’s teams compete for MAC titles on those tracts, we believe previewing the course set us up perfectly for the impending race.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Conference Championships Central

We came into the race as heavy favorites, knowing that our main goal was to familiarize ourselves with the course. Our focus was finding good places to move or certain downhills to push and make moves. We accomplished our goal.

The course is relatively flat except for one mild hill. Knowing that the slope is coming allows you to prepare yourself mentally and physically. I take a few deep inhales to calm my breathing and settle in before my heart rate inevitably spikes due to the incline. 

I have raced this course once before – and it was not pretty. Two years ago, I was fighting for my spot on the varsity squad to get to race at conferences. It was a cold and wet day, with seemingly solid footing.

It was not.

With each step, my feet sank heavily into the ground, messing up my shoes and stride. It seemed impossible to make any moves. I knew I was doing poorly, but my heart sank when I saw the clock above the finish line. I finished the 8k in fourth for our B team at 27:40. 

This year was different.

I came in confident in my abilities. I knew I was ready for a breakout performance, and I constantly told myself and my team, “I’m gonna pop.”

While I didn’t run away with it, I did finish first for our A team – and fifth overall – in a time of 24:59.7. A nearly 3-minute personal best from my last time racing that meet. 

This shifted my confidence entirely. I went from thinking of this course as the home of one of my worst performances to finally putting my season together just in time. I’m prepared to dominate the same course in two weeks, and confident in my ability to shock the conference. 

I asked my head coach Vicki Mitchell what she thought of previewing the course.

“Previewing the conference championship course in cross country is extremely helpful in preparing our team,” Mitchell said. “A map of a course does not provide the details of small undulations, surface, or steepness of a hill. Running the course helps our team ‘feel’ the course, helps in strategizing our approach and where to make key moves in the race. It also allows our team members to practice imagery and become more confident when race day approaches.”

The Bulls will reconvene in Bowling Green on October 28 to harvest the seeds we planted so long ago. Months upon months of training all culminating in what could be the penultimate race of the season. 

Look out MAC, the Bulls are coming. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Evan Hilbert is a senior communications major at the University at Buffalo. He is a member of the cross country and track & field teams at UB. Hilbert co-hosts a podcast called “Take Talks” with a fellow journalism friend. You can also find Evan on Instagram: evan_hilbert.