The St. Thomas University cross-country team returns for another season with new faces and big aspirations.
Last season marked the first time that the Tommies men’s cross-country team ranked in the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) championship and the first time the women’s team had more than one competitor finish the race.
On Sept. 28, the men’s and women’s cross-country teams had their first meet in Fredericton, where the both teams finished last in the team results. Followed by a second meet on Oct. 5 in Truro, N.S, the men’s team finished fourth out of six teams.
Both teams are now preparing for the ACAA Championship taking place in P.E.I on Oct. 26.
Maria Jose Anaya, a second-year runner, said her teammates are like family to each other which made her feel motivated to come back for a second season.
“Coach Nick is great as well. He has always been like ‘you race for yourself’ and that’s a great way to encourage students, but we are taking the results more seriously,” said Anaya.
Last season’s rookie of the year Anaya, said that this year she has stepped into a bigger role, as she is now one of the veterans on the team.
“The success of last year’s team motivated more people to join and that’s great,” said Anaya. “I think we have a better formed, motivated and bigger team than last year and with a lot more compromise to the sport and to improving.”
Anaya said that the championship race in P.E.I will be the hardest race they have had so far as they ran the same loop last year.
“Running in cross country is mentally hard because you’re always alone with your head,” she said. “This one is more physically demanding than mentally demanding because it has a lot of hills, which is something I don’t know if it’s better or worse.”
“My goal is to just keep improving my own time. My focus is not on finishing first because I know it has been a difficult time in my life,” said Anaya.
A runner that has been a breakthrough this season for the women’s team is Alexandra Nilsson, an exchange student from Sweden, who was named athlete of the week in her first-ever race with the Tommies and has finished in the top 10 at both races.
“I have never been on a cross-country team before, so it has been really fun to run together with a group because usually I’m just running by myself,” said Nilsson.
She said that the motivation came from her friends, who encouraged her to join the team. Nilsson is also a big fan of sports in general and enjoys having the opportunity to visit new places during her short time in Canada.
“I love running and I love being out there in nature. [Her friends] also said that we will do some races in other places. So, I was like, ‘wow, that’s a perfect match,’” said Nilsson.
The fourth-year international student rookie Mariano Padruno said he joined the Tommies to exercise and be part of a team.
“Doing this sport, I realized that it’s completely different than just running; you need to be mentally prepared because at some point it’s tough to keep going,” said Padruno.
Padruno said that even though he has heard that the championship race is the hardest, he wants to put as much effort as he can to help the team.
“I want to improve every time. I want to be faster and want to be in a better position every time I’m running. We have the championship coming up, so I just want to be better,” said Padruno.
