Young and running

Women’s cross country gets huge boost from spry legs of underclassmen

May 20, 2008
Jake Lloyd
Editor-in-Chief


Albion women’s cross country coach Hayden Smith wasn’t sure what to expect from this year’s team. “It’s kind of up in the air what’s going to happen,” he said at the beginning of the season.

An enthusiastic trio of underclassmen have helped to clarify things for Smith. If there’s one thing he can now count on, it’s getting upperclassmen-like contributions from Alyson Howe, Plainwell sophomore, and Megan Fitzpatrick and Jade Seelye, Marshall and Hersey first-years, respectively. The three runners have led the pack for the Britons every race, with Fitzpatrick and Howe earning first team all-MIAA honors and Seelye earning second team all-MIAA status. (Smith said that the first team selections were the first in his four years as coach).

Fitzpatrick’s third-place finish for the Britons at the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association jamboree in September—the team also placed third—was the best individual finish for a Briton since 2000. It was also the team’s best finish since 2000.

The Britons also placed third at last weekend’s MIAA championships in Grand Rapids, a step up from last year’s fourth-place finish, and finished just 17 points behind second-place Calvin.

“I’m pleased and [also] awfully frustrated because we came real close to placing second,” Smith said.

Albion had several injuries going into the meet, and Smith said, “It would have been interesting” to see how the meet would have turned out had the Britons had their full repertoire of runners.

But overall, Smith was content with the third-place finish, especially considering the future he has with the underclassmen on the team.

“With Alyson and Megan, we’ve got two people willing to mix it up up front,” Smith said. “It pulls the rest of the group along. Alyson was good last year and kept getting better, and Fitzpatrick has really given us another frontrunner mentality. She replaced a real tough person to replace.”

Fitzpatrick replaced 2004 graduate Julie Kamer, who was appropriately Albion’s last runner to earn first team all-MIAA status. With one great runner replacing another, and a huge first-year group of 12 runners, the Britons gained great depth this year—they have 34 runners compared to 28 last year.

“By them [the underclassmen] stepping up, it’s given our team a lot of depth,” said Jennifer Kamer, Fort Gratiot junior and Julie Kamer’s sister. “They’ve made it more fun, and it’s especially fun having a big team because we often use each other to push each other.”

Kamer said that during races the women will talk to each other when passing and just help each other to get the most out of each race.

The depth of the team might just be one of the reasons Albion has improved as the season has progressed. Every three weeks during the season, Smith has the women run three-quarters of a mile four times and then average their times. He expects their times to improve each time.

Smith said that the last time they did this, three weeks ago, “they were fast.” As Smith watched Howe smoke through the park, he thought to himself, “This could be good,” as in a good sign.

It was. Despite being out six weeks at the beginning of the summer due to an injury, Howe has shown no signs of being hindered this season.

Neither have the Britons as a whole. The underclassmen have jump-started a program that has plenty to gain. Next weekend’s regional in Alma, where the Britons will try to improve on last year’s 20th-place performance, is not the finish line for the Britons, who will lose just one key senior and are gaining confidence by the day.

“Since our team is so young right now, in the next couple years we’re going to be improving a lot,” Kamer said. “I think we’ll definitely be excited for next year.”

The race is just getting started.