Anna Roberts runs ahead in the Diemer Classic. Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department
With her second personal win of the season, junior Liz Wamsley led the Hillsdale women’s cross country team to finish third overall Sept. 15 at the 2023 Warrior Classic.
The Wayne State University Warriors hosted the 6k race at Willow Metropark in New Boston, Michigan.
“The course was a pretty fast course,” senior Vera Thompson said. “Except for a pretty dang steep hill in the middle.”
Thompson said the race consisted of three loops.
“Our coach told us to be controlled, especially in the first two laps where we weren’t trying to pass people,” Thompson said. “But in the remaining three-quarters of a mile, we aimed to catch up to the girls that passed us on the hill.”
Wamsley ran the 6k in 21:56 minutes, with her closest competition finishing more than ten seconds after her.
“The goal was to stay with the front runners for most of the race and then pull ahead toward the end,” Wamsley said.
Hillsdale finished third with 89 points, just behind Cornerstone University, which placed second with 72 points. Wayne State University placed first with 29 points.
The Chargers beat Calvin University, who finished with 94 points, Davenport University with 95 points, Madonna University with 164 points, Rochester University with 197 points, and Siena Heights University who came in last with 201 points.
“Most of the teams aren’t in our conference, but it was a good chance for us to practice developing racing instincts,” Wamsley said.
The Warrior Challenge was many of the freshmens’ first 6k, since high schools typically run 5k races.
“Our team is half freshmen this year,” freshman Savannah Fraley said. “It was a little bit of a shock, but it was fun. We all handled it really well.”
Fraley said she enjoyed being on a freshman-heavy team.
“You’re collectively learning as a group,” Fraley said. “It’s fun that way, so you can take turns asking the questions and figuring out what to do.”
Fraley also said she loves the team dynamic and how the upperclassmen mentor all of the freshmen.
“They are really good role models with academics, athletics, and everything,” Fraley said. “They’re very balanced.”
Thompson said she agreed that the freshmen get along well with the upperclassmen.
“All the freshmen have lots of energy, and they’re very motivated to come to practice,” Thompson said. “There’s just a good dynamic. We’re very intermixed right now. There’s no weird boundary.”
The Chargers will compete next in the Lansing Invitational Sept. 22, after which they will not compete for two weeks while they prepare for the Lewis Crossover and G-MAC Championships in October.
“This meet offered a good opportunity to get into a competition mindset since there were more teams there and a wider range of abilities to compete against,” Wamsley said.
As the freshmen gain more collegiate experience, the team looks forward to competing at higher levels.
“I’m actually excited to see what we can do. I can see some of the girls have the potential to discover something in them that they didn’t quite discover in this first race yet,” Thompson said. “They’ve been working really hard, so I feel like by the time we get to more competitive races, some really cool things could happen.”