Ashley Caldwell picked up right where she left off, leading the
Bruins to a ninth-place showing this past weekend at the Roy Griak
Cross Country Invitational, hosted by the University of Minnesota.
The invitational included several of the nation’s ranked
teams and elite athletes.
Caldwell, last year’s most valuable runner, wasted no time
in showing that she is ready to do even better during her senior
campaign, as she finished 15th overall while also displaying the
kind of leadership emblematic of the senior’s
“team-first” attitude.
Caldwell stayed back early, falling behind during the first few
miles in order to pull her teammates along with her. However, the
two-time All-American was able to shake off her slow start to
finish the 6,000-meter course with a time of 21:48.
“To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised with how the
race unfolded,” Caldwell said. “I think our team is
getting a lot stronger, being able to run together at a very high
level, which is very encouraging.”
According to coach Eric Peterson, Caldwell benefits the team not
only with her ability to finish high in races, but also by bringing
the other runners along with her.
“I was very pleased with the team running that was
displayed through the first 4,000 meters of the race,”
Peterson said.
“That is something I have emphasized, running as a team,
and Ashley is very willing to do whatever she has to bring her
teammates up,” he said.
Though Peterson liked what he saw from Caldwell over the
weekend, he knows his team will need its other upperclassmen to
step up as well in order for Caldwell to reach her maximum
potential.
“We want to see (seniors) Jenna (Timinsky) and Allison
(Hall) go out a little stronger in the future so that Ashley can go
out at her own pace a little more,” Peterson said. “We
had a bigger gap after them than we want to have.”
Caldwell was followed by redshirt sophomore Allie Bohannon
(22:29) and Timinsky (22:30) as the tandem finished in 47th and
48th place, respectively.
After those strong performances, the team had a bit of a drop
off with juniors Claire Rethmeier (23:07) and Monika Rothenburger
(23:16), who rounded out the team’s top five with 89th and
101st places. Hall (23:37) finished in 127th place. UC Santa
Barbara, previously unranked, easily won the meet against a loaded
field.