NEWS
BRIEFS
Taking Summer Training to New Heights
A group of Mustang men’s cross country student-athletes took
their traditional summer training to a new level this summer.
Instead of running on trails, streets, and tracks close to home,
seven of them traveled to Flagstaff, Ariz. for the month of July
to train and live together at an altitude of more than 6,900 feet.
Last year, three Mustang cross country runners, Brett Olin,
Jackson Morrow, and Sam Mercoli, went to Flagstaff and the
improvement in their subsequent performance was noticeable,
not only to themselves but also to their teammates, sparking
more interest in this year’s trip.
In early July, Langston Gash, Olin, Mercoli, Anthony
Mercoli, Ryan Siegel, Patrick Watson, and incoming freshman
Aditya Singh rented a house in Flagstaff to begin their t raining.
A typical day consisted of a run early in the morning after
waking up around 6 a.m.; some days added a second run in the
afternoon.
Team Coach David Berdan, a Hall-of-Fame distance runner
at Elizabethtown College and later a two-time winner of the
Baltimore Marathon, gave Olin and his teammates the initial
idea to train at altitude. Berdan sent workouts and mileage each
week for the team to follow.
Training at altitude, with thinner air, is an adjustment for
any athlete. Olin warned his teammates about just that. “I’ll be
honest, it was rough that first week out there [last year],” says
Olin. “The altitude kind of made it so something that would be
considered an easy pace here was difficult. I made it a point to
tell my teammates that hadn’t experienced it that it was going
to feel a little different and not to worry about pace and how
fast you’re going.”
Perhaps more important than the group’s training runs,
however, was the time not spent running. The vast amounts of
downtime allowed the group to explore their new West Coast
surroundings and to get to know each other better away from
cross country.
“I’d love to get more guys out there,” says Gash. “It was a
fun experience, you get to know the guys on the team. I’d like
for more guys on the team to experience that.” If the Mustangs
can better their best MAC finish of fifth, the group should have
little trouble convincing others to join them in Arizona next
summer.
about different cultures and to have team bonding was amazing.”
The Mustangs competed in three friendlies and had four
training sessions on the trip. Teams competing in the tournament
included club teams from both England and Ireland as well as the
Barbados National and Junior National teams.
“We got to play on an AstroTurf field, which was a true
advantage because it is a faster surface and helps sharpen our
skills,” says Martin. “It is a surface we very rarely get to participate
on and it is one the top NCAA teams get to play on regularly.
Overall, it was a great opportunity to play on a preferred surface
and to grow and bond.”
The team also got to enjoy the island, partaking in the Cool
Field Hockey Travels to Barbados for
Preseason Training Running Catamaran trip where they were able to sail the
To prepare for the 2017 season, the Stevenson field hockey team stayed, St. Lawrence Gap, which is one of the best-known towns
made a trip to the Eastern Caribbean island of Barbados, where on the island of Barbados. Before the team returned home, they
they trained and competed in the Barbados Hockey Festival. had time in Bridgetown, the island’’s largest and most vibrant city.
Caribbean Sea and swim with tropical fish and green turtles.
The Mustangs also had free time to explore the town where they
“I had done some abroad trips in the past and every year that “This trip was an advantage because you get to play more games
I had done it I had found it was such a wonderful event for the and prepare for your regular season,” Martin adds. “It was a win
girls,” explains Head Coach Laurel Martin. “To see and learn across the board.”
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