Staff Writer- Nathan Swanson
The Gustavus Women’s Cross Country Team hit the road this past weekend to Waverly, Iowa to compete in the Dan Huston Invite. This event took place on Saturday, Oct. 4th at Wartburg College. Gustavus would finish the meet strong, coming in third place out of fifteen total competing teams. Senior Molly Liston won the race and ran an incredible time, setting a new school record. The team is excited to build upon this last weekend, and continue to get better and improve with each new day.
While the meet in Waverly meant an early morning for the Cross Country Team, they still felt ready to go and to compete. The team bus left St. Peter around 5:30 a.m. and got to Waverly later that morning. This early start was definitely a challenge, and the team would have a long, hot day ahead of them, but they were able to get through it and push past the difficulties.
“It was really exciting… It was a very long morning… so a lot of us were tired and our legs were pretty sore, but we still went out there and competed really well and with how young our team is it is exciting to see how well we can do against other teams”, Liston said.
In terms of accomplishments, Liston had an excellent day. She set new records for Gustavus Cross Country. Out of the 211 runners competing, she placed first with a remarkable finish of 21:45.7. Comparing her finish to Gustavus’ team history, Liston is just the fourth runner to break 22 minutes in the 6k, and she officially became the second fastest runner in program history. Liston’s time is the fourth fastest time in Gustavus team history, trailing behind Gustavus alum Hailey Harren, who set the three fastest times in 2006.
“I never really know how fast and what my time is going to look like while I am running the race so I crossed the finish line and I was surprised and excited… I turned around to help my teammates who were finishing… I don’t think about it too much,” Liston said.
For Liston, a big focus for her was to help her teammates and support them, even with her own personal achievements. She knew that the first-years were looking to her to set an example, and so she looked to help them and to make sure that they were in the best position for success. The importance of teamwork and supporting others over the weekend was very helpful for the runners, and it made a difference for them.
“It was very hot out so that was what we were dealing with. As people were crossing the line, I was handing out ice towels and making sure that they found their way to the group,” Liston said.
Saturday saw great contributions from the entire Women’s Team as a whole. First-year Addison Enfield finished second best for Gustavus with a time of 23:05.4. This placed her twelfth overall. First-year Anna Forbord finished sixteenth overall with a time of 23:16.8. Junior Mackenzie Murphy finished with a time of 24:08.4, which put her 26th overall. First-year Francesca Geffre finished 56th overall with a running time of 24:54.1.
The Women’s Cross Country Team will compete in the Coach Finanger Invitational this next weekend on Oct. 11th in Waseca. The invitational will pose its own set of challenges for the runners. While it is different from other meets they have been at, there is still a high level of anticipation to get to the weekend and compete.
“It’s a 4k, which is a distance no one has ever raced before on our team, so I think people are just excited to get out there and run fast,” Liston said.
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the team still has plenty of areas to focus on as things progress. The runners are hoping to continue to get stronger and faster, and to improve as a collective team.
“We are really hoping to get third at conference… There is Carleton and Olaf, who normally go 1 and 2, and we don’t focus on them, but there are three or four teams, including us, that compete for that third-place spot. So we are focusing on getting stronger and improving as a group, and hopefully we can beat out those other teams,” Liston said.