Heading into the invitational, opposing teams were not the only challenge faced by the runners. A difficult course was waiting to cripple any athlete who tried to win the race early by going out fast. To better instill pacing methods in his runners before the race, Coach Andrew Weishaar also had the athletes complete a stepping stone workout on Wednesday of last week. For added caution, Weishaar also advised that individuals stick to pre-determined splits for the opening miles of the course, and move up as each person’s body warmed up and the race unfolded. All in all, the outcome was pretty spectacular. On a team which has many young and inexperienced collegiate athletes, five of the women and nine of the men posted season-best times.

When looking at the positives from this Saturday, Weishaar applauds the runners who stepped it up and made big gains from last season. Senior captain Matt Haringa and junior Bobby Bloor were both top-five finishers for the Red Hawks, and each shaved approximately two minutes off their course time from last season. On the women’s side, junior Lauren Carter finished in the top twenty in the race and took almost two minutes off of her previous time on Williamstown’s course. Sophomores Lauren Schneider and Hollie Leister were scorers for Rensselaer and took huge chunks off of their previous respective times.

Athletes are always happy when things turn out well, but they are also ready to listen and learn from mistakes. After running for five miles (or 3.1 for the women) and crossing a finish line completely exhausted, it is sometimes difficult to find the motivation needed to get up and run some more. Weishaar explained that jogging a cool-down, however, is absolutely important and necessary. Muscles build up lactic acid during the course of the race and if it is not drained, (through cooling down, stretching and icing) then injuries and other ailments can set in.