All For One, One For NCAAs

Pete Watson knew Boston College teemed with potential as a track program. The distance cross country coach at the University of Texas was an integral part of the Longhorns' overall success at the national level, but he'd watched the Eagles develop their own program from afar. The Canadian native knew about Chestnut Hill and all the city had to offer, but the final step in developing the team's overall infrastructure piqued his interest when the men's and women's program opened an opportunity for a new directorship.

BC had recently shifted its overall sponsorship to New Balance, a company with traditional roots to the storied running community, and the Eagles instantaneously earned national recognition when they partnered with the company for use of the multi-purpose facility built next to its international headquarters. A certified builder when it came to championship programs, Watson saw what was happening and knew he could help enhance an existing winning culture with the type of sustainable, long-term success that could define one of running's most hallowed cities.

Two years into his project, the timeline to win and create that nationally-recognized program accelerated into a second gear when the Eagles finished second at the women's NCAA Cross Country Northeast Regional and qualified for their first team trip to the national championship in cross country since 2019.

"I think we're a little bit ahead of schedule than where I expected," Watson said, "but without the vision and support of the university to allow us to make tough decisions to become the best program, we can't be successful. Number two to that success, I made an incredible hire in my assistant coaches, and Sinead Evans is an Olympian and a fantastic person. She went out and helped recruit this team, and they've given me everything. It goes to the people, and it's just been awesome."

The cross country season operates on a little bit different timing than the indoor or outdoor seasons from the winter and spring, but Watson adapted BC to the changing tides by creatively scheduling meets designed to maximize an individual's ability to race. He eschewed a rigorous, multi-week plan of attack and limited the number of times that his runners would get out on a course, but it allowed him to train the athletes and maintain their health over long, more arduous runs.

It was a calculated gamble, but the three-meet schedule paid dividends when the Eagles beat Harvard in a dual meet with a roster that didn't include a number of their transfer runners. They then moved into the Battle of Beantown for a 10th place finish that honed a good chunk of their depth chart before the Arturo Barrios Invitational hosted by Texas A&M.

BC was, by then, a full roster, and Emma Tavella's 21st place finish led a parade of Eagles that produced a third place finish at the event. Their maroon-and-gold wall finished within six seconds of one another and owned three spots in the top-40, which in turn placed the 206 points slightly ahead of Ohio State's 214 points and just behind UCLA's 188 points.

"We just didn't have the experience or the ability to train for a nine-week season," Watson said, "so the coaches decided that we just wanted to keep building [our team] and gamble that other coaches around the country were going to have some teams that were a little tired or injured. We counted on having a lineup that would have seven runners at 90 percent of their fitness [for the end of the season], and the lineup at 90 percent that we thought would be just as good as everyone else just absolutely crushed it."

A big part of the success came from the team's willingness to gel a culture built from a combination of existing roster runners and incoming transfers. Tavella, for example, had qualified for a national championship while running for UCLA, and she transferred to BC to spend a year running with her younger sister, sophomore Sofia Tavella. Junior Lily Flynn, meanwhile, transferred from Stanford, to join a team with her sister Sarah, and junior Molly Hudson joined the team after running individually for Leeds Beckett University in her native United Kingdom.

"Running in the UK is very much individual," Hudson said, "and you run for yourself. So it was a real challenge, and a really good challenge, to be a part of a team. We were all working together and for each other, and we were all supporting each other, which was really nice. Every day in training sessions, we were pushing each other, and we had such a supportive team with our coaches. Leading up to those championship races, we all had these positive vibes that wanted to put BC on the map, and that really pushed us to accomplish what we wanted to do."

"I've never had a team like this before," said Tavella. "My past teams were obviously good friends, but this team wanted it for each other. I wanted [to make the nationals] for Pete and Sinead because they dedicate so much to this program, and there's no better power than that. We just kept going for each other, and it's been fantastic."

The results, albeit limited in volume, hit an apex in those days after the trip to College Station. Two weeks after the Texas A&M trip, BC finished sixth at the ACC Championships and matched its result from two years ago. Tavella again led the pack with a 21st place finish, but the Eagles again produced a group of pack runners who worked together to finish anywhere from 41st to 47th. Four runners in total finished within five seconds of one another, and freshman Natalie Millerova stormed across the line with a half-second advantage over Flynn. Hudson was two seconds back with Roshni Singh likewise running two seconds behind her.

Two weeks after that, the same group broke out by challenging Syracuse for the Northeast Regional championship with its second place finish that saw Tavella shatter her season-best time and nearly run under 20 minutes in an eighth place finish. Singh and Flynn went 17th and 21st with Hudson in 30th, and Millerova and Sarah Flynn helped place six runners within the top-50 on a day that saw the 109 points slot 11 points behind the Orange.

"We'd had some teammates already here at the start of the year," Lily Flynn said, "but when the transfers and our international teammates came to BC, the whole team started to get into a rhythm and form this great relationship. We're going to be traveling to compete with BC on our chests, and we've gained momentum every single time that we've run together. In our minds, we always knew what we were capable of with our coaches, who had their own illustrious careers and were passionate about the sport, but the training sessions that we had, we knew we could run like we did at regionals."

The result is BC's first trip to the national championships since 2019 and the 20th all-time qualification, second-most among ACC schools, after increasing its finish in the regional by a whopping 14 spots. A team that received votes in the national poll broke into the rankings at No. 26 and vaulted past both Harvard and Providence while sitting two slots behind Syracuse for the second-highest spot among Northeast teams with the national championship on the horizon at Panorama Farms in Virginia, a meet hosted by the Cavaliers.

"The girls have been unbelievable in doing what we've told them to do," Watson said. "They've put themselves into their work and followed instructions. The cross country championships is the coolest event in college sports, and it lines up 200 of the best college runners to let them be their best runner on that day. There's no safe zone. You just have to dial in and give it a go, but I think if we can execute, we can take the emotion out of it."

The 2023 NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships is scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. starting gun and can be seen via nationally televised coverage on ESPNU. Online viewing is also available through ESPN's family of Internet sites and mobile device apps.

Players Mentioned

Lily Flynn

Sarah Flynn

Molly Hudson

Natalie Millerova

Roshni Singh

Emma Tavella

Sofia Tavella

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