It’s time to wrap up the regular season for Rowan men’s cross country with the most exciting race for the Profs, as they get to host the “Border Battle” at DREAM Park in Logan Township, New Jersey, on Saturday morning.
After a 21st-place finish out of 45 teams at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University, the Profs now get a chance to race on the course that they know best, and practiced on the course last Friday, Oct. 10.
“It’s always a good, especially for the freshman, to get a little bit of refresher, because we went once over the summer,” Colin Patterson said. “It’s good for everyone to see what the course is like a week before.”
Patterson is quite familiar with DREAM Park, not only as a junior at Rowan, but also running on it for high school meets when he was at Haddon Heights.
Last year, Patterson finished 33rd in the Border Battle race, just one spot ahead of fellow Prof Caleb Clevenger, now graduated.
“The pack caught up to me a little bit,” Patterson said. “It was nice to have the pack reach me at a point where I was starting to feel like I was falling off in the race. The rest of my teammates could help me push towards the finish line, and I’m hoping we come somewhere close to that this weekend.”
Last year, a course record was set by Johns Hopkins’ Emmanuel Leblond.
“Emmanuel ran really well and is one of the favorites to win the NCAA title this year,” head coach Dustin Dimit said. “So yeah, we’ll see if someone can come and do something similar this year. Carnegie Mellon is pretty good, and they have some good guys. It’ll definitely be interesting to see where that is. I don’t know if anyone can run quite (as fast as Emmanuel last year).”
Having practices, preparatio,n and a meet at DREAM Park will serve Rowan well, considering the course is also set to host the NCAA Metro Regional Championships on November 15.
“It’s going to be nice to be able to get a race there before the regionals,” Patterson said. “The workouts are nice, but it’s always good to have a race there to know what it’s like racing it. And it’ll also be nice because all your friends and family could come out there.”
The Border Battle is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, the final event before the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championships on Nov. 1.
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