BY TORI ADDISON
Staff Writer
The College of Saint Rose Women’s Cross Country team headed to Williams College in Massachusetts on this past Saturday to compete in the Purple Valley Classic. The meet was the third of the season for the Golden Knights. The team finished seventh overall, leaving Williams College to place first. Saint Rose sophomore Amber Goodspeed fronted the group with a 5k time of 21:47.1, landing her in 14th place.
Heading into their next meet on Saturday October, 5th, the team has their eyes fixed on the Asics Paul Short Run hosted by LeHigh University in Pennsylvania. Coach Andrew Rickert has positive expectations going into the meet, “Paul Short is always a very competitive meet. Each of the three races has over 40 teams and close to 400 runners.” Although the race size may sound intimidating, Coach Rickert seems to have no worry about the impact on the team. “What’s great about a race that size is what it really challenges the team to get out fast and stay together in packs when it’s hard to find one another,” he said, “The course is challenging but fair. We hope to run fast times.”
Overall, Coach Rickert sees high-quality development so far into the season. He adds, “The team is progressing nicely. They’ve only begun to run race-specific speed work, so this is when we will start to see faster times and more confident races.” The team is looking towards a positive year, but stills need to tweak certain aspects of their game to propel beyond their capabilities. “We know our biggest area of concern is our gap from runners 2 to 3. If we can close the gap between our second runner and where our third, fourth, and fifth finishers are, we will be stronger,” Coach Rickert stated, “Paul Short and our race at Westfield State will really set the tone for our post-season so it’s important that we gain some momentum going into those races.” The women’s team is primed for a positive season and best of luck to them as they continue forward.
