Blood, sweat, and tears have been poured into junior Macey McLane and sophomore Caitlin’s Morrow cross country season this year, leading to one of the biggest races in their lives.
On November 23, Caitlin Morrow and Macey McLane competed in the New York State Federation meet. Both qualified for the meet by placing top five individually at NYSAIS two weeks before the meet. The Federation Meet grants the top eight places in each race the ability to race at cross-country nationals in Oregon in December, and the top team also gets to advance. Since the Hackley team did not qualify, and Caitlin and Macey were individual racers, they had to adapt a new race strategy.
“Something I have been focusing on this season is hill work and being explosive on the hills,” Caitlin said. She has been preparing all season with this race in mind, so she has been doing course-specific work such as hill work because the course is very hilly.
Caitlin also attended two running camps, one in Colorado and the other in New York. She said because she participated in these camps, she acquired great base training that ultimately led her to an incredibly successful season, leading to her qualifying for the state meet as well as being declared First Team All-Ivy.
Macey, who is a newcomer to cross country this year but has a background in track, also had an incredibly successful season. She attended the same cross country camp as Caitlin in New York, and agreed that it gave her a very strong base in her training.
“This season, I focused on having a lot of mileage within my training, both during preseason and during the actual season, which I believe was instrumental in my success,” Macey said. She stayed consistent throughout the summer with her training and mileage. She focused less on speed work but hopes to incorporate more into her winter track season.
“It was really important for me to get out fast, as the field was very large and competitive,” Caitlin said.
Since Caitlin and Macey were individual racers, they had to anchor one another throughout the race, trying to stay together for the majority of the race. The course they raced at was Bowdoin State Park in Wappinger Falls, New York, which is near Poughkeepsie. The 5k course is notoriously difficult, with the first mile and a half of the race fully uphill.
Both Caitlin and Macey got personal records on the course, though the course was still difficult. When Caitlin and Macey were a third into the race, Macey got trampled by other racers.
“It definitely threw me off mentally and race-wise, but I tried to not make it bother me the rest of the race,” Macey said. However, besides this obstacle, Macey still managed to have an amazing race. Macey and Caitlin ended up placing 88th and 132nd out of 283 racers, respectively.
One of the goals they both have for next year’s season is to qualify for the state meet on the team level, as both want their teammates to experience racing in the state meet.
“It was such a special experience, and I would love it if my teammates could also experience it as well,” Caitlin said.
