The Geneseo cross country teams have prepared for this all season: the SUNYAC Championships on Saturday Oct. 31. Both the men’s and the women’s cross country teams are currently ranked sixth in the nation, setting them up nicely once regionals and the NCAA Tournament roll around.
Head coach Dan Moore has tried to emphasize the same message that he has all season long: just focus on the next race.
“We’re super excited with where our fitness is,” Moore said. “We had the hardest workout of the season just last week and they killed it.”
For being this late in the season, both teams seem to possess a remarkable level of energy. Moore noted that he likes to attribute this to the intensity of training.
“After our real tough workout last week, the day after there wasn’t much complaining,” he said. “There was a little grumbling but by that Friday, everyone was saying how good that they felt.”
Moore added that the players really take to increased intensity, while lowering the total volume of work. “It’s adding less wear and tear on their bodies which—this late in the season—is what we’re really looking for,” Moore said.
One thing that separated the men’s and women’s teams at the beginning of the season was that they had different plans for the end of the season. The women’s team always had the goal of reaching the podium at the end of the NCAA Tournament. With the men’s team, however, the idea of ending up on the podium at the end of the season was a bit farfetched. As it stands now with both the teams currently ranked sixth in the nation, having the same goal for both teams is very reasonable.
“At the start of the season, it was out there for us to think about it,” Moore said. “But right now, both teams are seriously thinking about it.”
The Knights are going into the SUNYAC Championships expecting to find competition from one or two teams.
“[SUNY] Oneonta has been running really well as the season has gone on,” Moore said. “They’re going to push us when we get there this weekend.”
Even though the teams aren’t really expecting much pressure from the other teams come this weekend, that doesn’t mean that they’re going to be resting on their laurels. They’re still going to be keeping up with the training regimen that Moore has put into place for these past few weeks.
Being able to keep up with the rest of region—and the nation—is an attainable goal for the Knights. If they can continue their training regimen through the next three weeks, then the rest of the nation will be hard pressed to stop the Knights from reaching the podium.