The Waynesburg University cross country team is set to race this Saturday, Sept. 23, which brings up the question of what players and coaches do on a bye week. Despite having this week off from competition they must still prepare for the next meet, as there could be some tough competition 

Junior Anderson Schuller gave some insight into what changes are made to practices during a bye week.  

“The biggest change that happens is that we can get more mileage in during the later half of the week,” said Schuller. “During a week when we have to compete, we do less mileage on the day  before the meet.” 

Head Coach Chris Hardie shared what workouts he follows from a man named Jack Daniels, who  is an exercise physiologist who has coached Olympic athletes.  This helps his team prepare for the upcoming race. 

“The whole system itself is based on a concept that we use that is a guy by the name of Jack  Daniels,” said Hardie. “He has a book which I have, but we have been following that program for almost 20 years. It is kind of set up where there are two speed sessions a week or three but  one of them is a longer speed endurance so it might be longer repeats at a slower pace.” 

Hardie also talked about how he will take on the challenge of these Division I and/or II universities. He explained that he will put his runners in the white race which is a race that takes place later in the day, which still might have some Division I runners.  

The next meet will be in Lock Haven as Waynesburg gets set to prepare for a Division II school. Last year the men finished 27 out of 34 teams and the women finished 26 out of 34  teams at the Lock Haven University meet. Last year the men’s and women’s teams raced against Division I and Division II schools such as Cornell, Slippery Rock, Seton Hill, and the list goes on. 

This next race will include 42 men’s teams and 44 women’s teams, so it will be a competitive race. This is also another reason why Hardie will have his team run the white race. 

Competing against these bigger schools could put the team at a disadvantage, but Hardie and the team accept the challenge. This year could be different as Andrew Kasper said last week “This team is serious about winning and wants to win.”