Saint Mary’s will travel to Oberlin, Ohio, to compete in the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble on Saturday.
The Belles head into the weekend coming off a fourth-place finish at the Benedictine Eagle Invitational. At the Invitational, five Belles runners achieved personal best times and Belles coach Jackie Bauters thinks Saint Mary's can build off of this momentum.
“I’m hoping we have solid, similar performances from the past weekend,” Bauters said. “I’m hoping that we’re going in rested and mentally prepared. I feel a lot of what we did well last week was being mentally ready to race and working off of that. I feel like getting through that mental barrier was huge. I think now it’s stay the course and continuing to improve.”
For the Belles, this is first time this season they have raced on back-to-back weekends, and Bauters said rest will be the key.
“We’re trying to make sure [the team gets] a little bit more rest this week,” Bauters said. “[The team] looked good yesterday, they didn’t look like they were still tired from Friday. ... Hopefully we’ll get some quality work in today and take the rest of the week pretty easy so we’re feeling fresh for Saturday.”
At the Rumble, Saint Mary’s will compete against a few highly-ranked teams, including No. 5 Oberlin College. Bauters said she is eager to see her team compete against high-powered programs.
“We’re excited to race against some really great teams,” Bauters said. “Our racing strategy will be a little bit different. ... There’s a lot more women in the race, but the caliber should only help us in the long run.”
The Belles look to gain some momentum Saturday before going into the MIAA Championship, which is a little more than two weeks away, Bauters said. He added the championship is something the team has on its mind.
“Yesterday, we talked about the fact that [the championship is] only three short weeks away,” Bauters said. “We talked about the need for us to do all the little things right on a day-to-day basis so that we’re there, healthy and prepared. There are three though weeks mentally and physically, and just keeping it fresh in your mind so you’re prepared for it when it comes is important.”
The Inter-Regional Rumble will take place this Saturday at 11 a.m. in Oberlin, Ohio.
