Regionals is finally here!

On Saturday morning, the athletes on the Penn State Cross Country team will step to the line at the NCAA Atlantic Regional Championships with heavy hearts and profound pride in our team. This week has been a tough one for Penn State. Now, more than ever, we need to come together and fight for what we want and what we believe in. We want to represent our school at the National Championships. While qualifying is a possibility, we will put everything on the line to make a statement that we have become a top ten NCAA program.

           

Big Tens was a blur for me. I still can't believe I walked away the champ. But as exciting as it was, I've moved on. There are bigger and better things to accomplish this season. Since the Big Ten Championships, we have focused on recovery and getting pumped for this weekend. We had several light training days after we arrived back in Happy Valley but then got right back into the swing of things. We haven't let coming up a tiny bit short at Big Tens distract us from our other goals.

           

This weekend is going to be a challenge. Villanova, Georgetown and West Virginia are going to be formidable. The stiff competition will push us harder than we've been pushed so far this season. I hope we step up to the challenge and surprise people. As well as we have done this season; we are without a doubt the underdog. I love the position we are in as we get ready for Saturday's competition. We left Big Tens "pleased" but with a little chip on our shoulders. We wanted to win. The chances of us winning this weekend, I'll just come out and say it, are slim. We compete in one of, if not the toughest region in the country, and winning isn't the goal. But being close is. Coach Sullivan sat us down and we reevaluated our goals. The Penn State women's team has never gone to the Regional Championships trying to get an auto-bid. That is exactly what we are going to try to do this weekend. Why not? We have nothing to lose. If we go for it, it only makes our chances better.

           

Being top two in the Regional is a lofty goal. One that I know I am willing to try to achieve. I believe the other girls on my team are up to the challenge as well. This season has gone by so quickly, I've almost forgotten to take everything in. Realizing that, in the blink of an eye, it's my senior year, my last cross-country season with these girls. It is crazy to think about. There are moments from this season I will never forget. I am extremely excited to see what the next few weeks hold for us. The first step will be in Princess Anne, Maryland on Saturday. I'm excited for the opportunity to help take our program to the next level.    

Recap of Big Tens

             I’m not normally one to be at a loss for words. But trying to put together something to say right now is very difficult. I’ve pictured crossing the finish line first at the Big Ten Championships one hundred times, but I never imagined what it would actually feel like. It’s an unbelievable feeling. Unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I have been a part of four Big Ten Championship teams, and I didn’t think anything could compare. Sunday was a special day, and one I will never forget. Thank you to my coaches, my parents and family, my friends and most importantly my teammates. There is no way I could have done it without every single one of you. Knowing that you all believed in me helped me more than you know. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

            We toed the line at the Big Ten Championships thinking that anything could happen. We just had to compete. Race the race. We competed and we raced hard. We came up short, but there is no reason we can’t all hold our heads high. We were 3^rd place in a talented field. We scored 71 points, the same amount of points we scored in 2009 when we won and placed 14^th at the NCAA Championships. Although we didn’t win, we accomplished a lot. Kara Millhouse and Emily Gianotti had great races finishing in 7^th and 14^th, both placing much better than the year before. Juniors Natalie Bower and Brooklyne Ridder rounded out the top-5 finishing in 24^th and 25^th helping us secure 3^rd place. Abbie Benson, Lindsey Graybill, Katie Rodden and Bekka Simko all put together great races in a challenging field. I am so proud of these girls and all that we have accomplished this season.

            While people may be upset with the end result of Big Tens, we need to move on. There are bigger and better things still ahead of us. The Mid-Atlantic Regional is next weekend at Maryland Eastern Shores where we will face top ten powerhouses Villanova and Georgetown. We will also face nationally ranked West Virginia who we saw just a few weeks ago and we will try to redeem ourselves against them. We moved up to 22^nd in the country and I hope we keep on climbing. The best team I’ve been on was 14^th and I think we have the legs to do that and better.

            This week is all about recovery and getting fired up for next weekend. Regionals is so important because it is the deciding factor. It is what gets us to Nationals. We need to give it everything we have because I know that I don’t want to be sitting at home when people are lacing up their spikes on Monday, November 20^th. This is the real deal. I can hardly sit still in my chair while I type this. The excitement from Sunday and the excitement looking forward to next weekend is making it hard for me to pay attention in class too! I cannot wait to until I get to lace up my bright orange spikes in a little less than two weeks! 

Big Ten Time!

             Over the past two weeks, we’ve been trying to find our spark. I don’t know if we necessarily found it, but I’m not sure we need it. There is no doubt in my mind that we all want to be champions, and there is no doubt that we know how to do it. I believe in the girls on my team, and I hope they believe in me. We’ve worked hard and we deserve to leave champions. But who’s to say we deserve it more than anyone else? That is what we need to remember. Everyone has put in the work and everyone thinks they deserve to win. It is how you handle the pressure and what you leave on the course that determines who gets to be crowned Big Ten Champions.

            The hay is in the barn, as they say, so there is nothing we can do now running wise to help us on Sunday. We can, however, prepare mentally. If we can keep our cool and not stress about this weekend we can do great things. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to be Big Ten Champions. This is not going to be easy. Just like every competition we’ve faced this year, it’s going to be a challenge. But if we get scared and ease up when the race gets tough, then we don’t deserve to win. When the going gets tough, we have to get tougher. If we can get ourselves up in the front and stay there, we will be able to walk away with our heads held high.

            It’s my senior year. My last Big Ten Cross Country Championship. I will do everything I can to help my team walk away with the title. There is no more, ‘oh, I have next year.’ This is it. I want to leave Illinois feeling the way I did in 2009 when we won. Through my whole career here there has been no better feeling than when the ten or eleven of us were standing in a huddle waiting for the results, secretly knowing that we had won. It didn’t matter how tired we were, we jumped up and down in celebration anyway. We cheered, we cried and we screamed. To this day, nothing really compares.

            I’m confident in my girls, and I’m confident in myself. We can get the job done. Winning a championship is worth the pain. It is worth pushing that extra little bit even if you don’t want to. We only get four opportunities to win a cross-country Big Ten title. We’re going in on a mission and I’d be scared if I was you! WE ARE! 

What Time Is It!?

          My last race at home was a little anti-climactic. I wish I could say I left everything out on the course, but I’m afraid I didn’t. Looking back, I know I am at the level that the leaders ran at and hopefully in the next races I will be able to prove that. I also have to say that I’m a little disappointed with how the team placed. We placed third behind West Virginia and UConn. I feel like some members of the team aren’t grasping how great we could be if we all connected and ran great on the same day. Hopefully Big Tens will be that moment and we will walk away champions. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

            With the conclusion of the Penn State National it is now, BIG TEN TIME! Basically Big Ten Time is when regular season competitions are over and we are in Championship Season. The women’s team has a tradition that about ten days out from Big Tens we have “Theme Days.” While these may seem silly we have a lot of fun and it really gets us ready for Big Tens. Power color day, Ninja day, crazy hair day and costume day have just been a number of the themes we have done. Be prepared to see a whole bunch of crazy looking girls running through campus over the next two weeks.

            Whenever we get to championship season I am reminded of where I’ve been and how far I’ve come. I was fortunate enough when I was a youngster to compete in a variety of different meets. Starting at the age of 7, I competed at the USATF and AAU Championships where I was able to travel to Disney World, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maine and more. I had parents who wanted me to get all the experience I could because they knew at some point I’d be where I am today. I continued to be able to take part in amazing experiences through high school where I was fortunate enough to race and have my team win at Nike Team Nationals and I competed at the Foot Locker National Championships. I am thankful for all of the experiences I’ve had and for all of the teammates that helped me grow and mature along the way.

            Not only have I had many experiences, but I’ve had great influences as well. Obviously, my former teammate and Nike Steeple all-star Bridget Franek helped me grow so much my freshman and sophomore years. Without her guidance and the help of the other juniors and seniors I wouldn’t be where I am today. Also, I was lucky enough to have my best friend, training partner and partner in crime be Nicole Blood. For those of you who don’t know, shame on you, Nicole will go down in the history books as one of the greatest high school runners of all time. Nicole went on to become an Oregon Duck; she is a 9-time All-American, school record holder and 4-time Pac-Ten champion. With training partners like these, how can you not be inspired? Bridget and Nicole are training partners that you hope you have. I was lucky enough to have both.

            Thinking about Big Tens, Regionals and Nationals makes me excited. We have such a talented team and I can’t wait to see how these meets play out. If everyone can work together and race how I know they can we are a force to be reckoned with. When I think about all of the teammates that have helped me along the way, I can only hope that I’ve played a small part in the lives of my teammates now as well. Let’s regroup and get ready to head into Big Tens with a mission and one goal in mind. To leave as Big Ten CHAMPIONS! 

Last time at Home

As I sit here at my desk thinking about tomorrow’s competition, I can’t help but get excited. However, the more I think about it, the more upset I get. Tomorrow morning at 11 a.m., I will race for the last time on the Blue and White Golf Course. Kara Millhouse, Chris Cipro, Vince McNally, Owen Dawson, Kyle Dawson and I will lace up our spikes for the last time at home this weekend, and will be recognized as the six seniors for the 2011 cross-country squad after the competition is complete. There is no other way to describe it than bittersweet. I’m upset because it is my last time on the home course and because I feel like I’ve finally figured out how to race it, but I’m happy and excited because it means that championship season is coming. But more about that later…

            Friday morning the men’s race will kick off the competition at 10 a.m., with the Nittany Lions toeing the line against, what should be there biggest competition for the day, Grand Valley State who is ranked 3^rd in DIII. On the women’s side, we will see a little more competition. We will match up with West Virginia who is ranked 19^th in the Nation, just one spot ahead of us. We will focus on their yellow and blue uniforms and try to stay ahead of as many of them as we can. Teams that will also make a run at us are UConn and Duke. While UConn is unranked, Duke is ranked 26^th so we want to make sure we can prove that we deserve our ranking and we can do that by staying ahead of Duke and beating West Virginia. It will not be easy; all the teams will provide a different challenge for us. What we need to do is run tough and push all the way through the line.

            The Blue and White golf course, where the Penn State National is held, is a challenging 6-kilometer course. Even though the first mile is all downhill, it is important to conserve some energy for the last mile and a half. After about two miles we start to make the climb to the finish. This is when we will really need to stay tough. Coach Sullivan always says, “This is where the rubber hits the road.” What she means by this is that this is where the pain starts to sink in. This is where the course separates the women from the girls. We have to remember that the reward of working hard and pushing through the pain is better than the feeling of defeat. It is the greatest feeling in the world to cross the finish line and be happy with your race. Of course there are going to be things you can do better, there always are. But hopefully tomorrow the Penn State men and women will put everything on the line and push until the end. If we can do that tomorrow, I am sure that we will be happy with the outcome and we will gain confidence going into Championship season. 

Giving this whole 'blogging' thing a try.

We are just two days out from our first home meet of the season! The Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational is a college and high school meet named after legendary cross-country and track coach Harry Groves who coached at Penn State for 38 years. While the "top nine" from both the men and women's squads will be sitting out in preparation for next week's Roy Griak Invitational, it is time for a lot of the younger girls to have the spotlight. This race will be a big contributing factor to see who gets to travel in a few weeks to Notre Dame for the Notre Dame Invitational.

For the men and women sitting out, this will be a weekend where we train through. We will work out on the perfectly manicured Penn State golf course on Friday, (where Spiked Shoe and the Penn State National is held), and then get to the course bright and early on Saturday to cheer on our teammates racing.

The ladies that will be lacing up for this weekend's competition are junior Colleen Shannon, sophomores Matra Klebe, Kalyn Fisher, Markea Dickinson, Lucia Sofo, Gwenn Porter, and Dani Kocjancic. The freshmen that will be racing at home for the first time are Kerrin Jennings, Leigha Anderson, Rachael Casciano and Lauren Mills. 

This will be a bit of a challenge for our freshman considering it will be their first 6k, on a very challenging course. However, after a great pre-season and a great first race at the Lock Haven Dolan Duels, I think our group of girls will hold their own against the competition and make Penn State proud.

Up next, Minnesota Roy Griak Invitational and some shopping!

After a successful workout and race over the weekend, the men and women's teams had their sights set on the next big race. This weekend, the top nine on both sides will travel to the University of Minnesota to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational. Having competed at this invitational last year, we have a better idea of what the course is like and look to do better than we did a year ago. The men and women both placed 9th last year in a stacked field and hope to be a presence in the front of the pack this year.

This will not be an easy task, as many of the top teams in the nation will be there. What we need to do is pack up and never stop fighting. Fighting for position and fighting the pain. Not only will it be a very competitive field, but also the course is as challenging as any I've raced on. Being mentally tough and having teammates there to push each other every step of the way is what is going to get us in the mix with the top teams.

We will head out Thursday morning and travel for a good part of the day. Once we arrive in Minnesota we'll get our run in and then relax. What's nice about this weekend is that because we leave on Thursday, we get all of Friday to chill out. I personally really enjoy getting a full day before competition to not stress, clear my mind and prepare for the task at hand. There is also a little extra perk being in Minnesota for the whole day on Friday.

While this weekend is very important for us, there is also time for a little bit of fun. Minnesota is the home of the Mall of America. If you haven't heard, it's kind of a big deal. Rollercoasters, aquariums, adventure golf, a mirror maze and over 400 stores are just the beginning. Now, we know we are not traveling all the way to Minnesota for the mall, but what would the trip be without a little bit of shopping? We have a little block of time Friday to stroll around the mall and maybe make a few purchases.

Being in Minnesota brings back a lot of memories from my middle school and high school days. In 2002, when I was a 7th grader at Argyle Central School, I was a part of a club team (the Argyle-Lites) with a group of six or seven other 12 year olds. Providence All-American Hannah Davidson and Albany Great Dane Emily Fung

just to name a few. Even though we went on to win the youth national championships in Iowa that year, the thing I remember most was our trip to the Mall of America. Being a 12 year old, what more could you ask for than a mall with rollercoasters? It is always nice to travel to places that bring back such great memories. Those few years I spent at Argyle were some of the best I've experienced.

Not to be outdone by the memories I've made at Penn State, this weekend at the University of Minnesota promises to be a meet I'll remember. Whether there is mud up to my ankles, like last year, or the sun is shining, I want to make this meet and the rest of the season one I'll never forget.