From Nicole Falcaro:

 

Saturday, December 8th:

USATF Club Cross Country Nationals:

Masterson Station Park in Lexington, KY

 

The women were not horsing around this weekend in Lexington, KY at the USATF Club Cross Country National Championships. The hills and mud did not make for stable footing for most of the course, but the women were fast out of the gates with a quick, mostly downhill first mile. An all-grass course would be whiskey business for most metropolitan teams, but Coach Devon trained the team well, conducting workouts on the grass of Van Cortlandt Park, the Central Park Bridle Path, and “especially the workout in Prospect Park that went up a snowy hill and through a lot of tree debris,” observed Christina Argueta.

The women stirruped the competition with a 6th place team finish! Rolanda Bell ponied up to the front of the chase pack and placed 23rd in 21:09. Jane Vongvorachoti trailed closely in 27th place in 21:14. Cat Beck was 46th, Christina Argueta 57th, and Nicole Falcaro was 85th to round out the top 5. Katie Casto Hynes took her old fashioned approach by “painfully enjoying working off of those who started to struggle in the second half.” Jill Vollweiler placed 22nd in the masters race. A women’s team poll estimated the course to be about 32 seconds slow.

When asked about the weekend, Nicole Falcaro said “Before the race, I thought we were in Louisville with all the bathrooms at the start! It was hard not to get whiske(y)d away on the first mile, and I definitely went out to fast. I ran like a high schooler. And contrary to all the commercials I’ve seen, I didn’t find jelly to be that prominent in Kentucky.”

That wraps up a fabulous Cross Country season! This sets up the women well for an indoor track season that can only be described as #WHINNING.

Your CPTC Cross Country Subordinate Assistant to the Captain Co-captain,

Nicole

 

Additional Media to check out:

Video: Cat Beck’s race predictions: http://www.levelrenner.com/2012/12/10/ten-second-race-predictions-go/

Video: Women’s Open race: http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&event_id=16&video_id=77850