On Saturday, Nov. 7, Loyola’s Cross Country Team competed in the GCAC Conference Championships in Clinton, Miss. Runners from the GCAC conference were selected to advance to the NAIA National Cross Country Championships based on athletic ability and their performance at the competition.

 Among those selected from the Wolfpack were Kieran Harper, finance freshman, Hannah Dougherty, psychology freshman and Madeline Falcone, music performance senior.

Harper, who is about to complete his first season on the team, says that this is his biggest accomplishment in his career so far and is excited that he and his team mates were awarded the chance to compete.

“I will get the chance to race against a very talented group of runners. I am mainly focusing on this as a learning experience for future seasons. I will also get the chance to race against the top competitors from the conference that we will be switching to next year and pass that information along to my teammates,” he said.

Andy Canegitta, head cross country coach, believes Harper’s performance at conference contributed to his bid to nationals.

“Kieran ran a good race that day. He took advantage of running the hills properly, keeping ahead of the pack and just separating the opponents from behind and gradually decreasing the gap after each hill and each turn which discouraged the people in the back from keeping up with him. He did a good job of separating the hill,” Canegitta said.

Despite minor injuries sustained in the week before the race, Dougherty is ready to compete.

Canegitta is sure that Falcone and Dougherty will pull through and produce great results.
“My two females have had a rough week. They’re a little banged up, but I think they will come through as well. They are two very tough young ladies,” he said.

To prepare for the championships, Canegitta has given special attention to speed workouts and maintaining the physical health of Harper, Dougherty and Falcone.

“We pretty much stuck to what we did in the weeks going in to conference. At the conference we just increased the mileage a little bit. We have done speed workouts that consist of 800s, but we’ll drop it in the week leading up to nationals,” he said.

“I have continued following Coach Andy’s running schedule and made sure to remain healthy. I have also evaluated what I have done in previous races to determine which strategies have worked best,” Harper said.

The runners will be departing from New Orleans early to learn their course and mentally prepare for the upcoming races. Canegitta hopes that this experience will positively affect the runners and the rest of the team.

“I think this race will motivate them to improve their times and train harder. I think they will bring that same attitude and experience to their team mates and push them to get there as a team. Which will be tough for a new conference but it is not impossible,” he said.

The NAIA National Cross Country Championships will be held in Vancouver, Wash. on Saturday, Nov. 21.

Carlyn Worthy can be reached at [email protected]