Photo by Madison Bowden
On a crisp and calm Saturday morning at the Nature Valley Center just down the mountain, Covenant’s Mens and Womens Cross Country teams both opened their seasons on Aug. 30. While being voted preseason poll #1 by the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS), the team was making sure to “not take other teams for granted,” according to Jacob Howington ’28. For this first race, that is exactly what they did, with the men placing second and the women placing first. In their second race, the men came in second next to a Division II team, while the women came in third behind Division II and Division I teams. For those on the outside, this may seem like a big surprise. But to those on the team, this is exactly what they have been preparing for, “with some upperclassmen doing 75-80 mile weeks” according to Alex Burns ’26.
During camp, the team laid out particular goals that they wanted to achieve: win conference again, place top 10 in region, and have three guys at 35th place or lower. Along with this, the team is much bigger than it has been, with “around 10 freshmen” according to Burns, and “21 guys on the mens team, a 50% increase from last year,” said Troy Daniel ’27. And yet, with how big they are, they are also an incredibly unified team. To be best prepared for their competition, the team has regularly been scouting all their opponents, putting every individual runner’s time from each opposing team in a spreadsheet and evaluating them, according to Andor Agustsson ’28.
The team is not solely unified with goals, but spiritually as well. Daniel Bowles ’26 said that their “team is fueled by God, not by themselves, wanting to be a light to others in fierce competition.” He believes that for this team, it’s great to win, but it’s about so much more than winning. “It’s about pointing glory towards God,” Daniel said. The way that they achieve these standards is by holding each other accountable, “keeping track of the little things,” as Philip Judd ’28 said. This translates to showing up on time, good form in the weight room, and being a part of team Bible studies. Additionally, multiple assistant coaches have joined the team, with two recently graduated alumni as assistant coaches: Josiah Mellot ’25 and Kali Hina ’25. The team is very excited to have more coaching instruction from different perspectives. Be sure to catch the cross country team at John Hunt on Friday, Sept. 26 and come out and support them sometime this year!
Thumbnail photo by Madison Bowden.