Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Tom Connelly
Women's Track Ready To Go The Distance For ACC Glory
February 26, 2020 | Women's Track & Field, #ForBoston Files
The seamless transition from cross country to indoor is building to championship-caliber crescendos.
The college track season is probably the longest because it never really ends. It encompasses three unique seasons with different perspectives, but all three - the cross-country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field - meld into one another. It's especially true for mid-distance and distance runners changing from the long runs of cross-country to the faster, quicker bursts of banked, indoor speed.
The changeover requires a switch in mentality in the hopes that athletes can hit their stride by the middle portion of the season. Weekly events force them to alter on the fly, but this weekend, when Boston College hits the Loftus Sports Center for the ACC Championships, it'll do so with all pistons firing for success.
"When you run a 6,000-meter cross-country race, you need more time to recover," BC women's track and field coach Randy Thomas said. "When you're indoor, running 3,000 or 5,000 meters, the recovery is much different just based on the distances covered. Athletes still need to give their body sufficient time to recover."
BC heads to South Bend with a slew of runners vying for points at the conference level. Paige Duca is one of the highest-ranked Eagles ever in an event, slotting third in the mile after running a time of 4:39.25.
"Paige didn't have the cross-country season she could have, and that fired her up for the indoor season," Thomas said. "She got it in her head to graduate with multiple school records, and she wanted to finish her career listed with all-time results.
Duca is one of two top-three seeds in the event with Emeline Delanis, who is seeded third in the 3000m with a time of 9:10.49. Delanis is one of three Eagles with top-15 seeds in the event, six seconds ahead of Lauren White in a stable featuring Isabelle Kennedy, who ran 9:25.67.
"Lauren is probably the most improved athlete within the NCAA," Thomas said. "Last year, she was around 9:50 for the 3000, and now she's down to 9:16, which is one of the 25 best times in the nation. Like her, Anna Oeser gradually took down times. It's a domino effect for us in which everyone is doing great. I've been thrilled with the performance to this point, and now I want to see what we can do with the ACC meet."
It all stemmed from Kennedy's return from injury. She missed her 2017-2018 senior season due to injury and sat out indoor season last year, her third consecutive year without a winter season. Her remaining eligibility enabled her to enjoy a redshirt year this season, and her healthy revival is something buoying the entire team's program.
"Every team has injuries, but we've got our kids back healthy," Thomas said. "Isabelle Kennedy was second in the ACC and a frontrunner three years ago. The last two years, she's missed time with injuries. But this year, she catapulted from a solid summer to become a team leader again. She's that one person who rallies everyone on harder training days. When the starting gun is fired, she's out there, out front, trying to make things happen. Her presence elevated the entire team, and it's been a tremendous, positive impact on everyone."
It leads directly into this week's meet at Notre Dame, a potential return-to-glory for BC's battle through injuries. The Eagles scored some points during the ACC Indoor Championships last season but rallied during this year's cross-country year to finish seventh in the conference. It was a borderline upset, five points behind fifth place Syracuse and hot on the heels of a top four finish against Virginia Tech.
It bled directly into the revelation of the indoor season. Mid-distance and distance runners recalibrated after the cross-country season but enjoyed a seamless transition during training. The meteorological challenges of the Northeast never manifested, and the runners remained outdoors. It softened the blow of switching to indoor track, and Thomas simply continued training
"Mother Nature really cooperated," Thomas said. "My training philosophy is a lot of tempo running, which switches from racing pace to a pace of having more of just a nice run. I'm a big believer in it, but we usually can't do it around this time of year because there's much ice on the reservoir or on the roads. But this year, we haven't had it. We've been able to stay outdoors and continue cross-country type training. Our runners aren't confined to the 200-meter, banked, indoor tracks."
It's going to lead directly through South Bend and into an outdoor season that has everyone in Chestnut Hill excited. The goal is to qualify a number of Eagles through the ACC Championships onto the national radar, with a couple of weeks between Notre Dame and the NCAA Indoor Championships in New Mexico. The schedule will shift almost immediately from there into the outdoor season, and the hope is to continue the current, present, established wave of momentum for a shot at even more glory in the spring.
"There will be another big adjustment coming when we shift to the outdoor, 400-meter track," Thomas said. "The first time stepping on an outdoor track feels so much bigger. It usually takes a few weeks of training to make that physical and emotional adjustment. But every Monday, we're in the plex, getting off the roads with an anaerobic workout in the pool. Our volume in mileage is the same, plus there's quality outdoor training. That's helping them tremendously."
The ACC Championships begin on Thursday and continue through the weekend at Notre Dame's Loftus Sports Center. The three-day event will be televised on the ACC Network Extra, which is available on ESPN's streaming platform for television subscribers with access to the network.
The changeover requires a switch in mentality in the hopes that athletes can hit their stride by the middle portion of the season. Weekly events force them to alter on the fly, but this weekend, when Boston College hits the Loftus Sports Center for the ACC Championships, it'll do so with all pistons firing for success.
"When you run a 6,000-meter cross-country race, you need more time to recover," BC women's track and field coach Randy Thomas said. "When you're indoor, running 3,000 or 5,000 meters, the recovery is much different just based on the distances covered. Athletes still need to give their body sufficient time to recover."
BC heads to South Bend with a slew of runners vying for points at the conference level. Paige Duca is one of the highest-ranked Eagles ever in an event, slotting third in the mile after running a time of 4:39.25.
"Paige didn't have the cross-country season she could have, and that fired her up for the indoor season," Thomas said. "She got it in her head to graduate with multiple school records, and she wanted to finish her career listed with all-time results.
Duca is one of two top-three seeds in the event with Emeline Delanis, who is seeded third in the 3000m with a time of 9:10.49. Delanis is one of three Eagles with top-15 seeds in the event, six seconds ahead of Lauren White in a stable featuring Isabelle Kennedy, who ran 9:25.67.
"Lauren is probably the most improved athlete within the NCAA," Thomas said. "Last year, she was around 9:50 for the 3000, and now she's down to 9:16, which is one of the 25 best times in the nation. Like her, Anna Oeser gradually took down times. It's a domino effect for us in which everyone is doing great. I've been thrilled with the performance to this point, and now I want to see what we can do with the ACC meet."
It all stemmed from Kennedy's return from injury. She missed her 2017-2018 senior season due to injury and sat out indoor season last year, her third consecutive year without a winter season. Her remaining eligibility enabled her to enjoy a redshirt year this season, and her healthy revival is something buoying the entire team's program.
"Every team has injuries, but we've got our kids back healthy," Thomas said. "Isabelle Kennedy was second in the ACC and a frontrunner three years ago. The last two years, she's missed time with injuries. But this year, she catapulted from a solid summer to become a team leader again. She's that one person who rallies everyone on harder training days. When the starting gun is fired, she's out there, out front, trying to make things happen. Her presence elevated the entire team, and it's been a tremendous, positive impact on everyone."
It leads directly into this week's meet at Notre Dame, a potential return-to-glory for BC's battle through injuries. The Eagles scored some points during the ACC Indoor Championships last season but rallied during this year's cross-country year to finish seventh in the conference. It was a borderline upset, five points behind fifth place Syracuse and hot on the heels of a top four finish against Virginia Tech.
It bled directly into the revelation of the indoor season. Mid-distance and distance runners recalibrated after the cross-country season but enjoyed a seamless transition during training. The meteorological challenges of the Northeast never manifested, and the runners remained outdoors. It softened the blow of switching to indoor track, and Thomas simply continued training
"Mother Nature really cooperated," Thomas said. "My training philosophy is a lot of tempo running, which switches from racing pace to a pace of having more of just a nice run. I'm a big believer in it, but we usually can't do it around this time of year because there's much ice on the reservoir or on the roads. But this year, we haven't had it. We've been able to stay outdoors and continue cross-country type training. Our runners aren't confined to the 200-meter, banked, indoor tracks."
It's going to lead directly through South Bend and into an outdoor season that has everyone in Chestnut Hill excited. The goal is to qualify a number of Eagles through the ACC Championships onto the national radar, with a couple of weeks between Notre Dame and the NCAA Indoor Championships in New Mexico. The schedule will shift almost immediately from there into the outdoor season, and the hope is to continue the current, present, established wave of momentum for a shot at even more glory in the spring.
"There will be another big adjustment coming when we shift to the outdoor, 400-meter track," Thomas said. "The first time stepping on an outdoor track feels so much bigger. It usually takes a few weeks of training to make that physical and emotional adjustment. But every Monday, we're in the plex, getting off the roads with an anaerobic workout in the pool. Our volume in mileage is the same, plus there's quality outdoor training. That's helping them tremendously."
The ACC Championships begin on Thursday and continue through the weekend at Notre Dame's Loftus Sports Center. The three-day event will be televised on the ACC Network Extra, which is available on ESPN's streaming platform for television subscribers with access to the network.
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