The Creighton men and women’s cross country teams are now competing unofficially in the 2016 spring track season.
The spring track season — which includes several indoor and outdoor competitions — is the nonchampionship segment of the Bluejays’ season. Creighton is allowed to participate in five NCAA spring track meets as a team; with several other meet opportunities for members of the team to run unattached.
This portion of the season allows runners to make individual improvements to help them compete at the highest level possible when the championship season arrives in the fall. The individual track events allow each runner to focus and specialize in what they need to work on.
“During track, each of us have different things we are focusing on, so it can be a lot more individualized than cross country,” freshman Megan Paule said. “We work on things that we will be able to use when we get to cross [country].”
Spring track season not only gives the runners a chance to improve physically through training, but also serves as an opportunity for growth as a unit.
“The team goals right now aren’t necessarily racing,” sophomore Jacob Ohnstad said. “It’s more about getting closer to your teammates — training with your teammates or working on form; working on this, working on that — so that when it comes to cross [country] — our championship season — we can be more of a team.”
“You learn a lot about your teammates through track; watching everyone race,” Paule said. “Because, usually, we don’t get to watch each other race because we are all in the same race. Being in different races, you get to learn about them which will help when we all race together.”
The Bluejays have raced in all the indoor meets on their spring schedule and are only a week away from beginning the outdoor segment of track season; which consists of four outdoor meets. Through the first half of their season, Ohnstad, Paule and coach Matt Rogers said they have seen significant developments from the team.
“In our past workouts, the paces we have been hitting compared to what we hit in cross [country] is drastically different,” Paule said. “Already, at this point in training, we are so much faster than we were in cross [country], which is exciting because that means promising things are coming in the future.”
“One thing I could see in indoor races was that we weren’t just competing in races — we were winning races,” Ohnstad said. “That shows that our training is at the right level; we have the right athletes to compete in certain events.”
The Bluejays won a total of seven indoor events this year with no prior event wins before this season.
“I think the culture has been the biggest improvement. They support each other, knowing that they have the same common goal,” Rogers said. “Individually, our self-awareness has improved, meaning everyone is aware that the decisions they make on a daily basis and how that outcome effects the rest of their day or next day in training.”
The Bluejays are back in action for their outdoor track season, beginning on April 1.