For the Blue Devil women this year, there is no looking back.
According to head coach Kevin Jermyn, the team’s strategy this season requires not thinking about upcoming races, end results or better placement. Instead, the team will try to focus on each day as it comes without thinking too far ahead. With a mindset like this, one might expect Jermyn’s team is in rebuilding mode, trying to avoid looking back at last year’s results as a predictor of this season’s success. In fact, the opposite is true of this year’s team.
“I thought we had the potential of being one of the best teams in school history last year with the group we had,” Jermyn said. “But I think we kind of pressed and forced a little bit too hard and focused on results throughout the year, to the degree that I think that probably wasn’t advantageous to that group.... With this group... we’re trying to just focus on the task at hand... and see where we end up come championship time in November.”
But since the Blue Devils’ top-six runners are returning, this year’s “group” is essentially the same as last year’s, albeit with a new class of freshmen mixed in.
Senior Carly Seymour and junior Juliet Bottorff are at the core of this year’s squad. Bottorff earned All-ACC honors last fall, and Seymour had the best time at the NCAA championship meet.
With the talent of these incoming runners plus the team experience provided from the upperclassmen, Jermyn once again believes his squad has the potential to perform exceptionally well. Despite acknowledging the desire to improve upon last year’s performance—ending in a 17th-place finish at the NCAA championship meet after falling short of earning an expected automatic bid from the regional meet—he quickly returned to reaffirming the team’s day-to-day approach.
According to Jermyn, this strategy has been successful in producing results and encouraging his athletes in previous seasons, and according to his runners, it makes practice more enjoyable.
“[Training camp] was pretty relaxed, and everyone had a lot of fun,” senior Mary Carleton Johnston said. “Like Kevin said, we’re trying to not really be comparing ourselves to last year, so each practice has been kind of fun.”
Beside providing an opportunity to try out their low-key strategy, training camp in Blowing Rock, N.C., gave the freshmen runners the ability to get a feel for practice and start bonding with their older teammates.
According to Chloe Maleski, a member of the new class of runners, the benefits of having a solid core of returning talent are already apparent. The freshman noted that the more relaxed atmosphere as well as the welcoming nature of returning athletes have made her transition to college life as smooth as possible, allowing her to enjoy her new team and focus on her individual goals.
“As long as I’m making an improvement and I’m healthy, I’ll definitely be happy with my freshmen year,” she said.
Maleski is joined on the team by classmates Carolyn Baskir, Abby Farley, Kelsey Lakowske, Julianna Miller, Lindsey Olivere, Colleen Schmidt, and Colette Whitney.
The older runners are also committed to providing leadership and setting examples for their new teammates. Like Jermyn, they are not interested in looking too far into the future, and for now their only focus is their training and welcoming the new members of their team.
As the women get ready to begin their season with the N.C. Central Dual tomorrow, the newest Blue Devils are eagerly anticipating the official start of their collegiate cross country careers.
And though Jermyn encourages his runners to focus on taking their season one day at a time, they have at least one season-long goal.
“I’m most looking forward to having so many girls aiming to do one thing,” Maleski said. “Run fast.”
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