Although many students are only just thinking about beginning fall semester, members of Millikin’s Cross Country team have already showed a serious amount of dedication to prepare them for the upcoming season.

“Most of the people on the team have been training since the first week of June, so they’re a good ten weeks into their training already” Director of Track and Field George Pincock said of the team. “This year I want us to move up on both the men’s and women’s side on the CCIW championship. We have a very young team, but I think that’s a reasonable, feasible goal for us.”

While only six men and eight women will compete this year, small there is no shortage of devotion on the small team. In a single week, runners can be expected to put anywhere from 40 to 70 miles on their running shoes in addition to stretches and drills.

“Really the biggest thing for us is commitment.” Pincock said, “It’s not easy to run 50, 60, 70, miles a week if you’re not committed. You know, this morning we got up at 6:00 a.m. and ran for about 45 minutes. Most people are still sleeping and we’re 6 or 7 miles into the day at that point, and that’s after we had a late run yesterday evening. We’re very open to the idea of working with people and helping people progress at their own pace, but commitment is huge.”

Yet, getting in miles is not the only way that the team remains committed to their goals, and Pincock stressed that rest is just as an important part of training as the actual running. In addition to eating well, getting enough sleep and stretching, athletes are expected to take genuinely good care of their body to keep up with the sometimes strenuous training.

The team members will test their training by partaking in the first race of the season, hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University, on Friday, Aug. 29 at 5:30 pm.

It is important that we, as a student body, support and encourage our peers to succeed, but if you are unable to make it to this meet, there are a number of other opportunities to show support including two meets in Decatur, hosted at Hickory Point golf course on Oct. 3.

“If you’re not a fan of running, it can be a hard thing to go and watch.” Pincock said “But this is going to be a great course, it’s kind of a preview for the conference championship which is going to be Nov. 1. And there are also going to be two high school meets on that same morning if you are kind of interested in the sport, seeing what it’s about. Getting to go out and watch from high school level to college level would be great.”

For a full list of Millikin’s athletic events, go to http://athletics.millikin.edu/ and be sure to support to fellow students and the Millikin community.