Macalester College Athletics

THE MACALESTER PHILOSOPHY
The cross country team is open to all students. We do not cut anyone from the team. Macalester College holds the philosophical belief that all students at Mac should have the opportunity to participate in athletics if they so desire. Macalester belongs to Division III of the NCAA and offers no athletic scholarships. However, a large percentage of Mac students receive financial aid. Financial aid is based upon need and academic excellence.

At Macalester we believe the experience of being a college athlete is invaluable. We know the student-athletes develop their commitment, leadership and friendships through practice and competition. Academics are always first priority, and first year runners learn to balance their priorities with the help of the upper-classmen.

Mac runners get stronger with each season. We focus on keeping runners healthy, getting stronger, and developing the mental skills to reach their potential. The close knit team develops a camaraderie that lasts long past college.

THE TRADITION
Since 1984, Macalester has produced one national champion, five All-America's, three teams who qualified for the national meet, and six individual qualifiers (which does not include duplicates or those who would have qualified if the team had not).

In addition, the Macalester cross country team has been selected as an All-Academic America team for the last eight years.

THE TEAM
Most of the runners on the team are very experienced and have run in high school. At the same time, every year we have one or two runners on the team who are new to competitive running. Most but not all of the runners do track. Some also ski during the winter.

The team is close-knit and enjoys having fun. Easy runs are filled with lots of talking and laughing. Workouts and races are loaded with cheers and supportive yells.

THE COMPETITION
Our conference, the MIAC (Minnesota Athletic Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) is very strong and traditionally boasts at least 2 schools in the Nation's Top 20. The MIAC consists of 12 schools. Macalester mostly travels to meets within an hour or two of campus and almost always on Saturday which allows us to miss very few classes. Most years we go on one overnight during the regular season.

THE PRACTICE
We start practice about 2 weeks before school starts, usually the third week of August. We have two practices a day until school starts. At morning pracitce we run and during the afternoon practice we swim, run easy, lift weights or play ultimate frisbee or kick ball with the men's team. We also have a couple sessions during preseason to talk about mental skills. The rest of the time the captains have activities planned (usually movies, ice cream, visiting local areas with restaurants and shopping, swimming). The team also does at least one volunteer project during preseason.

This preseason period is an intense time of training, but also a great time to get to know the campus, your teammates, and the training. You are able to move into your assigned dorm room and have time to make it your 'home' before the rest of the students arrive on campus.

Once classes start the practice schedule is consistent week to week so the runners can easily schedule study sessions, other activities and work. The schedule is:

Monday: off
Tuesday: medium or hard/weights
Wednesday: hard or medium
Thursday: morning pool workout/weights
Friday: premeet/easy
Saturday: race or hard workout
Sunday: long/weights

WHERE WE RUN?
Macalester College is located in a residential urban setting. Summit, one of the streets bordering Mac, has the longest stretch of restored historical houses in the US. There is a grass boulevard that goes for 1 ½ miles on Summit down to the Mississippi River and another mile of grass in the other direction. The river has miles of trails on both sides. These trails lead to small parks along the river. Mac runners also enjoy exploring downtown St. Paul on their runs. The state capital is 3 ½ miles from campus. Sometimes we drive to other parks in the cities or to a string of lakes in Minneapolis. Interval workouts are usually run on the College of St. Catherine's campus (on grass) or on a neighborhood golf course.

THE OFF-SEASON
At the end of the season the runners take 7-10 days off from running and then return to base mileage for a period of time. The team is given off-season training for the winter and the summer.