September 4, 2023
Warriors Look to Start Strong and Finish Stronger
By Francisco Claudio
It's time for those early mornings when an athlete starts their day just as the sun is peeking its head over the horizon.
When most people are still sleeping or barely waking up these athletes are running and putting in the work.
This year the Westcliff cross-country team will feature a mix of new faces and regulars whom we have seen all around the athletics department.
One of them is the talented runner, Kelvin Kiptoo who enters his third year as a Westcliff student-athlete.
The Warriors will also have a new coach Mike Crosby who was introduced earlier in the summer to lead the program.
"There's the bigger goal and the smaller goal," Crosby said. "Both are similar because we want to finish strong for the smaller goal which means each and every race we want to finish strong at the end of the race. This is what we call negative splitting the race, so they run better in the second half than the first.
"The second part of that is the conference championship."
The Cal Pac Conference Championships will take place on October 30th this year.
"The second part of that is the conference championships," Crosby said. "We want to run our best when it counts the most."
This is the motto that the Warriors want to carry over into the conference championships because it's the bigger goal, to run their best when it matters the most.
"On the inside, Kelvin Kiptoo qualified for nationals as an individual as a freshman, but then didn't make it last year," Crosby said. "So a clear goal is to get him back to that level this year.
"It may be difficult as I've not actually seen him run yet but I'm sure that will end up being our goal once I talk to him."
There are several new runners on the women's side which is a challenge that Crosby is looking forward to tackling immediately.
"On the women's side, we have several newbie runners so I'll know a lot more after we've run our first race," Crosby said. "I'm encouraged because some of them have been consistently swimming since an early age and that builds the cardiovascular but you need to have more cross country.
"Hopefully, that will translate into being able to run some decent times so I'm very encouraged on the women's side."
Crosby doesn't know who the leaders will be this season and would rather that happen naturally as the athletes run and interact with each other.
"I typically don't choose leaders like a captain," Crosby said. "I let them naturally come to the forefront as leaders and encourage them to do that. Especially with a new team, I wouldn't know who to pick so we'll see how they develop their leadership skills along the way, and I'll encourage those that I think have stronger leadership skills.
Crosby is looking forward to how the women will compete in their races and how the team will perform in the conference championships.
"I hope to establish a culture of consistency in training which leads to running our best for the one that counts the most," Crosby said. "I'll try to make it as fun as I can within the context of the fact that they are new to running.
"I'm looking forward to the season and going to practice every day because the little training we've done so far seems promising."
The Warriors will compete in their first meet on Saturday, September 16th, at the UC Riverside Invitational.