Women's Cross Country Season Update

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers women's cross country team is continuing preparations for its second meet of the year at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown up in Boston next weekend.

While the first meet of the year took place two weekends ago, the Scarlet Knights have been anything but idle.

"In practices we have worked in groups of two and three, which sets you up for a good race because you know exactly who you are running with and how they can pull or push you in a workout" said sophomore Lou Mialhe. "If you can keep up with someone in a workout then there should be no problem in a race. "

The Scarlet Knights opened up the 2017 season at the Leigh Invitational on September 1^st led by a group of first- and second-years leading the pack. RU finished in second place overall behind a West Virginia team ranked regionally at No. 4 in the Mid-Atlantic.

"We have a lot of really good freshmen that came in this year, so we are really competitive this year," said sophomore Emma Bergman. "Lehigh was a good course to start on because we have two upcoming races there this year. We are looking to have major time drops by the time regionals comes around at the end of the season."

Getting experience on the course should pay dividends for Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights will see the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania course again on September 29^th with the annual Paul Short Run, one of the largest cross county meets in the nation with over 5,500 athletes from over 400 teams, as well as the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional in mid-November.

"Our main goal is to have more of a solid pack, to stay together, and to have everyone pushing each other," said sophomore Nadia Saponara on the team's focus.

Back at the Lehigh Invitational, three Scarlet Knights finished among the top 10 point scorers and five all together finishing in the 22-minute range. Leading the way was freshman Olympia Martin, the 2016 NJSIAA Group 4 Champion, making her Rutgers debut with a time of 22:16.48 on the 6K course

Martin was closely followed by Saponara with a PR of 22:16.68 and Bergman with a PR of 22:23.61.

"Right now we have a solid top five, but we are looking to get it a little closer together," noted Bergman. "Our main goal for this season is to have five girls under 22 minutes, and if we can do that then we will have a solid team. It is a main goal to keep working together, and keep moving forward.

"We have some time now so we are going to train hard. We have been doing a lot of weight lifting and yoga, in addition to hard work outs to prepare for this season. We have big goals for this year."

"The goal of every practice is to mirror a race," added Mialhe. "As long as we are able to stick together in practices, it should come together during the meet."

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-RU -

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Emma Bergman

Olympia Martin

Lou Mialhe

Nadia Saponara

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