Junior runner Jazz Roberts was awarded Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week by the SUNYAC for the third time this season.
“A good sign of the work that she’s put in, and she kicked some serious butt at the [Prestigious Hoffmann Invitational] last week,” cross country head coach Andrew Krug said.
The Cards competed in the Prestigious Hoffmann Invitational last week and Connecticut College Invitational this week.
The men’s team came in 14th out of 20 teams with a score of 416, while the women’s team came in 19th out of 20 teams with 471 points for the Prestigious Hoffmann Invitational.
Junior Luke Groves was the first Cardinal to finish the race, coming in at 44th out of 277 runners with the time of 26:47.4. Junior Arthur Horan and junior Andrew Horan came in 85th and 90th with the time of 27:27.7 and 27:33.1 respectively.
Roberts finished in second place out of 220 runners with her personal best of 22:37.0. She edged SUNY New Paltz’s senior Emily Cavanagh for the runner-up spot by 4.1 seconds. Plattsburgh State’s sophomores Rebecca Block and Kristen Thomas came in 91st and 161st with the time of 25:27.5 and 26:52.7, respectively.
In the Connecticut College Invitational, the men’s team came in 23rd out of 28 teams with 646 points, while the women’s team finished at 23rd out of 28 teams with a score of 668 points.
Andrew Horan finished 108th out of 409 runners and was the first Cardinal to cross the finish line with the time of 26:10.9.
Groves and Arthur Horan then came in at 123rd and 143rd with the time of 26:21.9 and 26:31.0 respectively.
Roberts came in 14th out of 365 runners with the time of 21:52.7. Block and Thomas finished at 172nd and 238th with the time of 24:17.7 and 25:09.9 respectively.
The Connecticut College Invitational went well for the Cards as they showed some seasonal and personal bests in the six-kilometers and eight-kilometers.
All members from the women’s team and seven out of 11 from the men’s team had seasonal best in the race. Krug was pleased with the team’s performance.
Krug also said nine teams from the men’s race and 10 of the women’s teams are in the national picture, of which four from the men’s teams and five from the women’s team were ranked teams in Division III.
“We’re in good company and they capitalized on the great opportunity,” Krug said.
Krug said having the best performance yet before the SUNYAC Championship is a confidence booster and showed the team where they are at fitness-wise.
Roberts set her personal best in the Connecticut College Invitational, but her sacroiliac joint was displaced.
She said her joint hurt slightly before the race last week and it didn’t bother her during the race, but she had to do a shorter cool down after the race as the injury hurt more.
“I think just the intensity of the race probably upsets it a lot because [the Connecticut College Invitational] was one of the harder races of the season because of how fast the course was,” Roberts said. “I think it is just a little irritating right now.”
During the training on the next day, she could barely make it to four miles and was not able to walk either.
She was grateful that there is no meet this weekend, and so she was able to take some time to recover and meet with her trainer to be prepared for the SUNYAC Championship.
“At this point, I don’t care if it hurts a little bit. As long as I can put pressure on it to run, then we’re set, cause we only have two more races to go and potentially three if I make it to [the Nationals Championship],” Roberts said.
Roberts is focusing more on physical therapy, where she exercises to help get her hips back in place.
She also said she might have to sit out the SUNYAC Championship and just run in the Regionals Championship because the bigger picture is to run in the National Championship.
Krug said there are unknown factors ahead of the team but the men’s team is looking to be in the top six while the women’s team is looking to be top 16 in the SUNYAC Conference.
Roberts is hoping she could finish in the top three in the SUNYAC Conference but she said SUNY Geneseo is stacked and if she puts in her personal record, she will only be the sixth runner. Therefore, she is hoping this to be a tactical race because she will then be able to hang on to the pace they are going.
“But I’m not discounting myself, I think this is something I really want and so I’m ready to run a gutsy race. I’m ready for it to hurt, but I’m also excited,” Roberts said.
