Women's XC Ready to Run Into National Spotlight

Cross country running is known as an individual sport. Runners race for individual times, and their accomplishments list out personal bests. Talk to a Boston College runner, though, and the narrative changes.

Both the Boston College men's and women's cross country programs are built on the strength of the team. The individuals harness their own power within collaborative setting, oftentimes driving each other to become better for the purpose of making a team succeed.

"It's an individual sport because you're out there a lot by yourself," said the women's team's Isabelle Kennedy. "But a lot of times you find yourself running next to a teammate, and you can push each other to get all the way to the finish line. That's where you fight for your teammate, and that's a big part of what this sport and this team is all about."

Kennedy is one of a number of talented Boston College women's cross country runners looking to keep the team in the national radar. Picked to finish 12th in an Atlantic Coast Conference packed with great athletes, it's how they build their program and how they look to remain competitive year after year.

"This is a team that's bonding very well with each other and within the team," head coach Randy Thomas said. "The freshman group is the most impressive that we've had in the last five or six years. Each one is using the upperclassmen to make themselves better. They're challenging themselves to become faster and that's fantastic. I can see them getting more confident every day."

The women's side is led by Kennedy. She finished second at the ACC Cross Country Championships last year and was one of only two runners with a time under 20 minutes. She followed that up with a third place finish in the Northeast Regional championship to advance to the NCAA overall championship race. She finished 172nd there in a field of over 250 runners, averaging a 5:40.8 mile along the way.

It was part of a banner year where she also qualified for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary race during outdoor, spring track season.

"I definitely want to make it back," Kennedy said. "The biggest thing right now for is rehabbing an injury, but once I get through that, it's working together with my team to fight back to the NCAAs."

Kennedy is joined by Anna Flynn, a sophomore runner who qualified for both the ACC Championships and ECAC Track and Field Championships during her indoor, winter track season. During the fall, she finished as one of the cross country team's top five runners.

"I've seen great improvement in (Anna)," Thomas said. "I've also seen great leadership from Laura Leff, who has been an ACC and national qualifier (in the spring) in the steeplechase."

They'll be joined by a group of freshmen ready to move the team into the top echelon of the ACC. Kylee Raftis and Miranda Thompson were high school teammates at Bishop Strachan in Ontario, and they come to Chestnut Hill together to form a solid future core with arrivals Katherine DeLoreto and Lauren White.

"Lauren is brand new to the sport and already made improvements," Thomas said. "They're part of a great combination of young runners, who we have with our upperclassmen."

The Eagles will look to use the mild fall weather as a springboard through their training. Arriving on campus in hotter temperatures, the schedule allows them to train in gradually improving conditions. As the temperatures drop, they'll be able to get longer, better work in before being forced to run in the cold and snow.

"When you train hard in the summer in the heat and humidity, you get to the end of September and into October to get cooler days and nights," Thomas said. "You get a second life. All the hard work you get in with that difficult weather becomes easier. You do the similar workouts but you can handle those workouts easier in October than you can in early September."

"Our climate is pretty advantageous," Kennedy said. "Not all of our meets are going to be in good weather. The NCAA meet last year was in Terre Haute, Indiana in the middle of November. It was super windy, and it was really cold. Coming from Boston, we run in the cold during the entire school year and in the snow and rain. We're ready for that, and some southern schools aren't prepared for it. It's an opportunity and an advantage for us."

The anticipation and excitement of what could come permeates through the start of the school year. As the Eagles prepare for the bulk of their season, it's a lesson they'll look to both learn and teach with each practice and training session.

"The biggest thing isn't so much volume in training or what you do," Thomas said. "It's how you do it. It's being patient and consistent. We don't make it into the NCAAs based on what we do now. It's not where anyone starts, it's where they finish and that's most important. Historically we've been to the NCAA meet as a team 15 times in the last 25 years, and that makes us very successful. We were a little bit down last year, and now we have to get back into the top half in the ACC. Getting into that top half means you have runners at national caliber times."

"It's been great to get back," Kennedy agreed. "We have a good crop of freshmen and I'm really excited about the way our team is shaping up this season. It's always great to get back to campus and see everybody. We're just getting started with our running and our lifting. It's a lot of fun, which is where our team comes from. It's a good balance for us."

Women's XC Ready to Run Into National Spotlight

Players Mentioned

Katherine DeLoreto

Anna Flynn

Isabelle Kennedy

Laura Leff

Kylee Raftis

Miranda Thompson

Lauren White

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