For two consecutive weeks, cross country runner, senior Claudia Monnett, has been named the North Coast Athletic Conference’s Runner of the Week. Monnett led the undefeated Tigers to a win over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where she ran a 24:20 to earn first place.
TDP: Can you talk about the Rose-Hulman meet and what was the key to your success?
Monnett: It was just a dual meet so there weren’t a lot of people there, but it was a nice easy run and most of our team got to run together and pack up. It helps you a lot.
TDP: The team has been doing terrific this season as well. Why is that?
Monnett: We’ve been doing really well. We have a really strong seniors group. We have a lot of senior girls that went abroad last spring, and now they’re back. Everyone seems really mature and really dedicated and ready to work hard. Not to mention a huge group of freshmen that are really into being competitive and show the same dedication as our seniors. We’ve all been meshing really well together and we’ve done a lot of team bonding. We’ve went tubing and team breakfasts. It’s been really fun.
TDP: What were the team’s goals going into the season?
Monnett: One of our goals always is to go to nationals. We haven’t done that in a while as a team and we're definitely trying very hard to win our conference. We’re hosting it at Terre Haute this year and we’ve already ran that course, which can be brutal, just to get used to it and put us in the best position to race well. Personally, I’d really like to be an All-American. I went to nationals last year but I didn’t do super-hot there so we’ll see what happens.
TDP: Are you superstitious? Are there things you need before a race?
Monnett: Oh yeah definitely. I definitely have to have certain things done or I’m not in the right mental state when I go into the race. I drink a full Starbucks double shot before I run and that really helps. I’m also meticulous with things like my shoes, my bib, and anything else.
TDP: Your athletic career isn’t over after cross country. Are you looking forward to the track season?
Monnett: I’m really excited for track. I like the team atmosphere better in cross country ‘cause we’re a little more close ‘cause we’re all doing the same event. But I definitely like track races better ‘cause you can see how many laps you have left and it’s easier to judge your own body and leave everything out there.
The Tigers continue their season at the Greater Louisville Classic on Oct. 1.
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TDP: Are there some emotions as your last season of cross country comes to the end?
Monnett: We haven’t really gotten that emotional about it yet. I’m definitely expecting that to hit these next few weeks. Especially when we have overnights and we get to our last conference, but so far so good. We’re really excited to leave our team how it is right now. Everyone’s doing really well now and I think they’re going to have a strong team once we leave because that’s a big concern especially with the size of our senior class. We were really worried about the team when we leave it, but given this new freshmen class I’m feeling really confident.
TDP: How has the easier competition affected the team this season?
Monnett: I do think we have some confidence because our competition hasn’t been terrific and that is fantastic, but I do worry a bit about what will happen when we get into some real competition. We haven’t really had very fast times and I think that’s more a product of the types of courses we’ve been running on.
TDP: What challenges are there ahead for your team?
Monnett: Louisville will be a really hard meet, there will be a ton of teams there, a lot of tough runners to beat. There’s probably no way we’ll win that meet and it’ll be sad to see our undefeated streak end, but it’ll be some really good competition that we haven’t seen a lot of recently.