By O’Shaka Robinson, Sports Writer
The cross-country team is working overtime during the offseason by running distance events in track.
In his first year, coach Conor Holt has had success with the women’s and men’s teams in cross-country and track.
“The team is so young and so new because I’m new, but they’re a great group of kids to work with,” Holt said.
Holt came to OCU from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., where he guided the men’s and women’s distance team to many improvements, including a pair of NCAA qualifiers, eight regional track and field qualifiers, four Big Ten medal winners, and 14 conference place winners.
His team has broken numerous records this year and is made up of mostly underclassmen.
Freshman Katrina Nolan is already an all-American in cross-country and has broken numerous records as well.
“Arriving as a freshman, you have all of these opportunities to make a big impact in the program and get your name out there,” Nolan said. “As a young team, I feel like we are still trying to find our base and get a feel for how things work.”
Nolan has a 500-meter time of 18:08, 1,500-meter track race time of 4:55 and steeplechase track race time of 11:25, all of which are OCU records for cross-country runners.
Freshman Arya Bahreini also has his share of records at OCU, including his 19:58 in the 4-mile and 25:17 in the 8,000-meter cross-country races, 8:44 in the 3,000-meter and 15:01 in the 5,000-meter indoor races and 8:53 3,000-meter outdoor race.
“I set personal goals for me to beat a certain time,” Bahreini said. “The records just come through the process.”
Bahreini competed for the U.S. in the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association cross-country championships Jan. 26 in Mandeville, Jamaica. He was the fourth man in for the United States and finished 13th overall.
Since OCU does not have a track, the team practices at Bishop McGuinness High School at 801 NW 50th St. or on nearby trails.
The team is in their outdoor track season and will compete until the end of May.
Leave a Reply