Men's Cross Country | 9/15/2023 11:57:00 AM
MIAMI SHORES, Fla.– Today, the Buccaneer men's and women's cross country teams travel up north to West Palm Beach in hopes of bringing back more hardware to add to Barry's trophy cases. At this meet, runners compete in a 5K run. Individual times are calculated for the individual leader board results. Additionally, all individual times are separated by school and added to determine the school with the fastest collective time.
To stay prepared, both the men's and women's teams have been training hard and staying attentive to their mental and physical health. Regularly, coaches Kevin Padin and Daniela Espino's team sacrifice their early mornings to go out to the track and improve their skills.
After their practice yesterday morning, a few members of the women's team gave their thoughts on their last meet, practice, and the invitational coming up.
Freshman Hayley Boyle, in sharing her perspective heading into the next race says, "The [last] meet for me was a little bit of a struggle. I went into it, positive but I was coming back from being ill so I was just like, my mindset was there but my body wasn't. So my first mile was really strong and then I kind of fell off after that, but I feel like the next race I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be good because I feel healthy again."
Boyle, who recorded a time of 21:18.76 and placed 80th overall at the FAU CC Invitational, will look to improve on her scores and propel her team tomorrow. In addition, Boyle was not shy to express her confidence in the coaching staff.
"I really, really, really love the coaching with this program," Boyle added. "I feel like they focus a lot on recovery and making sure that we're in our top shape, health wise and mentality wise. So I feel like this is the best coaching that I have received as an athlete."
Gabriella Kinsey (Fr.) and Betsy Perez (Soph.) also shared their perspectives on practice and their mentality while running.
"[Practice] was good. At first I was dreading it and then once you're done it just feels like I accomplished something. And I just have to keep telling myself, like I'm the best. I do positive talk in my head when I'm running," Kinsey said.
Betsy Perez added, "The practice went really good. At first, I was so tired I didn't want to do today's speed workout. But I mean, going into it, I'm tired, I'm pushing through. It's like, really all mental. But then once I finished, I just feel like Gabby said, accomplished and I feel good. I feel refreshed and I feel ready for the day and stuff."
Kinsey and Perez both finished in the top 75 of their last meet.
INSIDE THE MEET:
This year the Bucs hope to follow in the footsteps of conference rival, PBA, who dominated the last year's competition. PBA ran the top six fastest individual times for men and top five for women. Evidently, PBA took home the team trophies for both the men's and women's categories. Barry sophomore, Maryam Abreu, shined at last year's Keiser Flagship Invitational. Formerly a member of Florida National, Abreu finished with an individual run time of 20:18.0, which resulted in a 7th place finish overall.
Assistant coach Espino, referred to as "Dani Da Menace" by her team, detailed her expectations and goals for the new cross country program.
"So for this season, it being the first one, of course, it really is all about each time just going every day getting a little bit better. And then for sure, in the long run, I'm looking at, you know, of course, winning conference regionals and eventually a national championship, but really starting to build the legacy of what we want to leave at Barry. So, yeah, I hope to be here for quite a while to be able to see that through."
Similar to her own illustrious collegiate cross country and track career, Espino expects the same glory out of her current team. The journey continues tonight!
BARRY'S TOP PERFORMERS:
*(At the FAU Cross Country Invitational)
MEN (5K):
Bobby Cordova(Fr.) | 79th Overall, 18.25.39
Joel Zapata(Fr.) | 82nd Overall, 18:31.85
James Alexander(Fr.) | 86th Overall, 18:35.93
Jejuan Gillispie(Fr.) | 97th Overall, 19:01.71
WOMEN (5K):
Maryam Abreu(Jr.) | 68th Overall, 20:45.81
Gabriella Kinsey(Fr.) | 71st Overall, 20:52.60
Betsy Perez(Soph.) | 72nd Overall, 20:55.34
Hayley Boyle(Fr.) | 80th Overall, 21:18.76
ON THE HORIZON:
Bucs cross country will travel up to Tallahassee, FL for the Florida State Invite Sept. 19 at 8:15am.
About Barry University Athletics
Barry University has sponsored NCAA Division II athletics for 39 years, winning 28 national championships in eight sports, crowning 429 All-Americans in 13 sports and over 640 scholar All-Americans. Barry is a proud member of the Sunshine State Conference "The Conference of National Champions" with 104 league titles since joining in 1989. The Buccaneers have NCAA men's teams in soccer, cross country, basketball, swimming, baseball, golf, and tennis and women's teams in soccer, cross country, volleyball, basketball, swimming, beach volleyball, golf, rowing, softball and tennis.
