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.