JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's and women's cross-country teams return to the course looking to continue a solid start to the 2023 season, this time at the ASICS Invitational in Fairburn, Georgia.
For the men, coming off a fourth-place finish in the UNG Invitational, senior Raymond Brugmans acknowledges the solid start for both him and his team but also knows that there is room for growth.
"It was good to get back out there," Brugmans said. "A couple good starts, struggled a little bit in the middle of the races but finished strong, and I'm pretty glad with the finishes I've had so far."
After an injury, Brugmans has worked hard to regain strength and contribute to the team's success.
"Working out with the team has been a major part of that," Brugmans said. "Increasing the mileage per week and getting comfortable being uncomfortable has been a big part as well."
Brugmans' 31st-place individual finish at the UNG Invitational played a big part in the team's fourth-place finish overall. More importantly, his leadership qualities as a senior on a young team have helped the team's mentality.
"We're a young team," Brugmans said. "We have a lot of freshmen that have never ran the 8k before, and I think it's important in the first couple races of the season that you take the freshmen with you and race as a team… I think we did that well and ran together. We're a close pack."
Going into the ASICS Invitational, Brugmans and the Eagles have used their surroundings at Carson-Newman to prepare for a course to their advantage.
"We are preparing for a flat course," Brugmans said. "It's nice to have a place like the creek where we can prepare for a flatter course and work on some speed stuff to prepare for the course."
For the women, freshman Jenna Pittman notched a personal best time of 18:42.7, finishing in 11th and playing a big role in the Eagles' second-place finish as a team.
"It was definitely a new feeling to run under 20 minutes," Pittman said. "It felt really good, and it was very encouraging."
With Pittman's first finish under 20 minutes, she believes the training before her first season has prepared her to succeed at a high level.
"We've been training and running since the summer," Pittman said. "Over time, we're going to get better and better, so that has definitely helped me… I've increased my mileage greatly since high school."
As a team, Pittman and her teammates have pushed each other to compete at a high level, even early in the season.
"In workouts, we all really push each other," Pittman said. "That's part of where our success comes from. Overall, all the girls put a lot of work into running to get better."
Going into the ASICS Invitational, Pittman and the Eagles look to have a strong finish on the race's last leg.
"One thing I think we can work on is the finish of the race," Pittman said. "It's more mental to keep pushing through."
While the course in Fairburn is mostly flat, a hill at the end presents a challenge for the Eagles, but Pittman feels well-prepared for that challenge after a good week of practice.
"It's very flat until the end, which is a hill," Pittman said. "Coach Lee has had us run hill work this week to prepare for that, so I think we're ready to push through it."
The Eagles will take on the ASICS Invitational course on Saturday at 8 a.m. with a recap to follow on cneagles.com.
