The Saint

Story by Alex Rodriguez, Sports Editor.

In recent polling, the Men’s Cross Country team has been ranked nationally 12th. This is a three spot jump from where they were currently standing in 15th. This year is a year of high expectations set by this team. They have set high team and personal goals to be able to keep gaining rankings in the Nation. 

Within our conference there aren’t any teams ranked nationally higher than our Aquinas Saints and they have set the goal high. Win conference. Not only is that a main goal for these runners, but to add to that they are wanting to absolutely dust Cornerstone University this year.

At the first meet of the year, at Indiana Wesleyan University, nine runners completed an 8k in under twenty-six minutes. This allowed them for a 5th place finish to start the season. The entire team is extremely dedicated to getting faster times everyday, putting work in and out of practices. Sophomore Carson Lafferty is someone as well on the team that has been running everyday as far as to Grand Valley from Aquinas College saying, “Personally I am wanting to be on varsity” so that he will be able to be apart of the team that is pushing for a conference championship into a competitive national race to see which team will take the title.

The AQ Cross country team also had a third place finish at a recent Grand Rapids Community College meet with most of the guys finishing within 26 minutes again. Throughout the season they have been pushing to better themselves and working hard to achieve some of their goals. Knowing the work ethic behind most of these guys there isn’t much holding them back from success this season.

These guys have been working together as a team, in a fairly individual sport, to constantly get better their team and they have also been building their team chemistry through playing ultimate frisbee often on the turf. Along with this for team bonding they have added some saying to their team to keep their minds focused and on track such as, “Trust and Buttery” but more especially, “Trust your work”. This is how they are shaping their mentality for the season to trust what they know and trust it will show as the time nears closer to these more detrimental meets.