Union University’s women’s and men’s cross-country teams raced in the Memphis Twilight meet at Christian Brothers University last weekend.
The women’s team, which competed in a 5K, finished 16th out of 22 teams. Senior Abigail Bergquist was Union’s fastest runner, finishing in 19:53.
The men’s team ran a four-mile race and finished 15th out of 20 teams. Their fastest runner was freshman Tristan Kelly, with a time of 21:15.25.
This meet was the first of the season for the two teams. It provided them a chance to see where they are currently and gave them things that they can work on going forward.
“I thought that it was a solid team effort for the first race,” said Chloe Veilleux, junior exercise science major and runner for the women’s team. “Both the boys’ and the girls’ team were short due to various reasons, so I think we both finished well considering we were missing some of our key runners.”
This year, the majority of the men’s team are freshmen. Samuel Barkman, men’s runner and senior physical education major, was very pleased with the way these freshmen handled themselves in the meet.
“In high school, you run a 5K which is just a little bit over three miles, and usually that first college race, once you get to the 5K point, you realize that you have to run more. Mentally it can be really hard to just stay in it and keep on running fast,” Barkman said. “But I feel like a lot of the guys really overcame that barrier, so overall I’m optimistic about the season.”
Because of the pandemic, this is the first full season that the teams have had since the fall of 2019. The runners are excited to get the opportunity to have more races this fall than they got in their abbreviated season in the spring of 2021.
“We had a six to eight week season last year,” Barkman said. “And this season is going to be more like twelve or thirteen weeks, so just having that extra five weeks is going to be huge.”
Overall, the teams are looking forward to a new season together.
“I’m thankful for the genuine unity and bonds that we share as a team, and I know we have what it takes to go far this season with the talent and determination that we have,” Veilleux said.
The next meet for the cross-country teams will be on Saturday, Sept. 18, in Memphis at the Rhodes College Invitational.
Photo by Union Photo Project
