Cross Country begins season with a fresh start

Heart, talent, guts and determination – that's what the 2004 Virginia Wesleyan Cross Country teams exemplify. It is the goal of all teams to begin their seasons as positively as possible.

At the first meet of the season, the Sixth Annual Marlin Invitational, the women's team started very positively. Freshman Tara Salem won her first collegiate race and Colleen O'Connell, a senior, placed eighth. Senior Greg Jackson led the Marlin men by placing seventh.

Salem entered the race not knowing what to expect.

"Being my first college race I was nervous," said Salem. "I didn't know my competition and what their capabilities were."

Salem would not have been familiar with her competition, but she was confident in her skills, which led her to the victory.

On Sept. 11, the Marlins traveled to Lexington, Va. for the Washington and Lee Invitational. The Marlin runners did not do as well in the previous race, but Salem and Jackson still made a strong showing. Salem placed 13th out of 81 runners and Jackson placed 10th out of 51.

Starting the season so strong was a delight for first-year coach Mat Littleton.

"I love it here," Littleton said. "Attitudes are tremendous right now. They do whatever I ask and more. Their ambition is high and is making it enjoyable for me to coach them."

The 2004 men's team consists of: Jackson; juniors Brian Bostian and Rob Thompson; sophomores Mark Banks and Mike Rogers and freshman Tim Sanford.

The women's team includes: O'Connell; juniors Corrina Clark, Harley Swan, Amy Clark, and Mindy Garhart; freshmen Salem, Roberta Farmer and Heatherton Rogers.

Coach Littleton feels that his group of men and women is a great motivation for him. He also teaches his runners to find their own motivation to drive them.

"[Motivation] keeps the drive to catch the person in front of you,” said Salem. “Once you get them, you want to catch the next person. It's a rush that comes over you."

"It’s the challenge," said O'Connell. "The rush, it's a mental thing. When you go ahead of somebody, you get an extra boost of confidence and you go after the next person."

"The sole fact that I don't have anything to think about, that's my motivation," said Jackson. "I don't have homework. [I'm not] worrying about paying a bill, nothing is on my mind and I love that."

Before every race, every Marlin tend to do their own thing.

"I like to be by myself," said Salem. "I'm in my own little world thinking about the race."

"I put my head phones on and listen to Linkin Park," said O'Connell. "I am in my own world. I don't talk to anybody and nobody talks to me. I'm trying to focus on the race."

"The day before the race we go look at the course," said Jackson. "I use that time to plan out where I'll make my moves during the race. I like to study the course. The day of the meet I make sure I'm warmed up and stretched."

"As a team, we get into a huddle about five minutes before the race," said Coach Littleton. "We talk about crossing the finish line and being able to say that they ran the best to their ability."

"The finish is what matters the most," said O'Connell. “Awards and points aren’t given out to the fastest person at the beginning of the race. They are based on the finish.”

Cross country runners have something in them that no other athlete has and that is if you can't win, catch the person in front of you. That is a determination that makes an athlete better.

"Each person is improving and getting better," said Littleton. "I think if an athlete is improving and getting better that is the best thing a coach can ask for."

The Marlins have some time before their next meet, which is the Great American Cross Country Festival, hosted by North Carolina State University on Oct. 1.