Going into Notre Dame’s adidas Invitational last Friday, the Wildcats had one goal that stood out above the others: revenge.
Northwestern was aiming to beat Illinois State, a team that had defeated the Cats at a meet earlier this year. Instructed by the coaching staff to memorize the Redbirds’ jerseys on the line, the Cats knew that a fast start was crucial to a good race on a tricky course in South Bend, Ind.
So when NU’s top five came through the 1000 meter mark together with no Illinois State runners in sight, coach April Likhite could tell it was going to be a big day for the Cats.
“If anything, I felt like (the strategy) might have held them back a little bit,” Likhite said. “But they continued to race well.”
Led by junior Carly Brown, whose time of 18:12 was good for 11th place overall, NU finished sixth out of 27 teams in the Gold Division race.
Grand Valley State took home first place with 126 points.
As per Likhite’s wishes, the Cats moved in a pack for much of the race. Their top five finishers (those who count towards the team score) ran together for the first mile of the invite, while the 3-4-5 combo of Marie Garbinski, Paulina Garcia and Britta Helwig all crossed the line over a six second spread.
“We came together more during the race than ever during the time that I’ve been here,” Garbinski said.
Senior Celia Franklin was the second runner in for NU, coming in 28th after, like most meets this season, running much of the race with Brown.
All five Cats scorers broke the 19-minute mark and finished in the top-70 overall. Perhaps most impressive was their 47-second spread from one-to-five, well within Likhite’s target range of 60 seconds.
Though cross country is often viewed as more of an individual sport, NU’s runners insist that the team element is critical to success – be it the knowledge that your teammates are depending on you, or the mental boost provided by seeing your workout partner beside you during a race.
“You know talent wise that you’re supposed to be right there,” Brown said. “When people aren’t around you, you can’t gauge where you should be, but if your teammates are right next to you, you know you’re going at a good pace – you’re where you need to be.”
In addition to squeaking by Illinois State, which finished just five points back in seventh place, NU trounced Big Ten rival Ohio State by 11 spots and nearly 200 points. For a Cats team that has placed last in the conference each of the past two seasons, the Buckeye bashing was a great display of the progress they’ve made over just a few months.
“Beating Ohio State by, like, 200 points felt really, really good,” Brown said. “That was definitely a confidence booster. It was no longer what the coaches were telling us, it was on paper. Nothing feels better than when you can’t even lie to yourself, (because) you’re better.”
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].
