The men’s and women’s cross-country teams are getting ready for their last tournament of the 2023 season, the NCCAA National Championship.
Bright and early next Friday, the teams will take to the Warsaw Community High School Cross Country Course in Warsaw, IN, at the tournament Co-Hosted by Bethel University & Grace College.
This season, the Asbury cross country teams have posted some solid performances, like their home invite, where both teams placed first overall. Other noteworthy competitions included the first of the season at Berea, where they both ranked 5th and the Midway University Invitational, where the women placed 4th and the men placed 5th.
On Sept. 29, the women pushed through for a 7th place spot at the Nike XC Town Twilight.
“Asbury women’s cross country rose to the occasion on Friday night in Terre Haute, In., with a team time of 2:13.59 that qualified them for NCCAA Nationals,” the Asbury Athletics website said.
Now, both teams are looking to put up a good performance for their last event of the year.
The men have a unique challenge with trying to compete at a high level without some of their best competitors.
“We recently lost a couple of our top runners, so the mood kind of shifted this season,” junior Cam Tapp said. “But instead of getting discouraged, the whole team put their heads down and went to work. Regardless of how we finish at nationals, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”
For Tapp, running cross country is something special, and being motivated by his team and captain Wes Preston has helped push him.
“I’m a very competitive person, so I am running to race,” Tapp said. “There’s something about cross-country races that you don’t get with any other sport. It’s all grit. You’ve got to be mentally tougher than the guy next to you. You find out a lot about yourself during races. For me, it’s an addiction.”
A runner on the woman’s team has had a different path to get her to nationals. Senior captain Elise Terpstra has been working to overcome her injury before being cleared to run with her team.
“I have been working with Asbury’s training staff and Kort PT to get up and running in time for Nationals,” Terpstra said.
For the past two months, Terpstra has struggled with pain in her legs. Her IT band isn’t connecting properly to her patella, and she also has pain in the joint near the top of her fibula. However, Terpstra has been determined to run with her team one last time.
Before the race, the woman have been focusing on decreasing mileage and increasing speed workouts.
The men will take to the course at 9 a.m., and the women will start at 10:45 to finish off the season.
Article written by Maddie Heineman and Andy Biller.