How Cleveland State’s women’s cross country strides towards success.
Written by Casey Couch
The sun rises at 7 a.m. in the fall. Cleveland State University (CSU)’s campus is generally quiet. Birds are opening their sleepy eyes and beginning to chirp. Condensation forms dew drops as the air cools and falls softly on the grass – but the dew drops won’t be the only thing hitting the grass in the morning.
At 5:30 a.m., an urgent alarm breaks the silence in Ariana Coats’ apartment. Coats and her three roommates pound on each other’s doors to make sure everyone’s awake. By 5:45 a.m., their running shoes are laced up. They head outside into the dark morning so that they can hit the field by 6 a.m. for cross country practice.
“I’m a big believer in team unity,” Hudson said. “Yes, you have individuals that are doing things, but if they don’t know each other and trust each other, you can’t do anything as a unit.”
“If I’m not up, they’re going to come knock on my door and make sure I’m up,” Coats, a senior chemistry major, said. “There’s no excuse to miss practice when you live with your teammates.”
Coats is one of twelve runners on CSU’s women’s cross country team. This season, the women’s team is heating up the competition and putting in the work to break both personal and school records.
The women started off the season at the Tommy Evans invite, Aug. 30, where multiple runners ran personal bests. The coach of the division one team, Jason Hudson, says that this strong start to the season has persisted.
“We had a bunch of people set personal records,” Hudson, in his seventh year coaching at CSU, said. “That’s sort of been the theme as we’ve gone through the season.”
At the team’s most recent Falcon Invite at Bowling Green State University, Oct. 18, three runners, including Coats, continued to set personal records. Hudson says this was a standout meet for the team.
“At Bowling Green, we beat Wright State and we have not beat them before,” Hudson said. “Two of our runners put themselves in the top three performance list.”
These two women, referred to as front-runners, are sophomore Natalie Keller and junior Ana Crangle. This season, both women have set 5K and 6K personal records that rank among the top five fastest in school history.
“We had a very tight pack last year. There was probably 40 seconds in between our first and fifth runner, but we were far back in the pack,” Hudson said. “This year, Ana and Natalie are up in the front, which drastically changes our point total.”
The women’s success this season has also been getting them attention in the league as a team to watch out for. Hudson attributes this success to an important team quality that has nothing to do with running times at all: teamwork.
“I’m a big believer in team unity,” Hudson said. “Yes, you have individuals that are doing things, but if they don’t know each other and trust each other, you can’t do anything as a unit.”
One of the ways the women learn to trust each other is through team bonding exercises outside of the running course. This year, the women enjoyed local apple picking and hosted each other for team dinners among other impromptu hangouts.
Coats says that almost all of the team members live on campus and room with each other, which makes their unique college experience easier to juggle, despite the early wake-up times.
“I absolutely love the teammates that I live with,” Coats said. “And you just need to learn very quickly how to balance your school and athletic life without giving up too much of your college life.”
College life isn’t easy for the team either. According to Coats, many of the women are in demanding majors such as engineering or health sciences. Despite their already busy schedule and difficult classes, the team manages to hold an average cumulative GPA of 3.7.
While this seems like a lot of work, Hudson knows that the women are doing it because their passion for the sport runs deeper and deeper the faster they run. He summed up their attitudes perfectly with a simple statement:
“They’re doing a lot, they’re doing it at a high level, but they’re doing it because they love the sport.”
