Troy Cross Country Striving For More

TROY, Alabama - For the Troy cross country teams, changing from last season to this season was an easier fix than what it would seem.

"The little things," Brennan Garriques said. "You can't do just what you're supposed to do at practice. You have to live the lifestyle if you want to be able to compete at the division I collegiate level."

The Trojans have gone into this season with the collective mindset of focusing on the things they can control in order to improve their results both in practice and when it counts.

At the midway point through the season, those results appear to be paying off for both the men's and women's teams.

Through four meets this season the men have finished third or better in every meet, including a victory at the home Trojan Cross Country Invitational. Leading the charge has been a youth infusion that has notched a collective 18 top-25 finishes on the year.

"We've had a chip on our shoulder and I think that's been the biggest difference between last year and this year," head coach Elliott Blount said. "We've got a lot of pride."

The high team finishes and collective success as a team is due in part to two players coming into their first role as starters have redshirting last year. Bradley Dixon and Ryan DeGale have a combined six top-32 finishes among them.

The duo, who are both sophomores from Florida, have kept pace with each other on the season. Dixon finished seventh with a time of 25:50.80 at the Azalea City Classic in the 8K run and DeGale was right behind at 26:08.22.

At the JSU Foothills Invitational, it was much of the same as Dixon again edged him by exactly three seconds at 26:14.7 for 31^st place.

Garriques said the strength of the team has been that there are five or six runners who all feel they can be the top runner on the team. He hopes that as the season nears the end the players will be motivated to fill out the end of the lineup to be a complete team.

The sophomore has been motivated by the success of the team, something Blount echoes as he said the team has a real shot to make an impact at the Sun Belt Championships this year.

If motivation is contagious, the women's team must be sick. Senior Katrina Bokenfohr admitted the team struggled out of the gate, somewhat due to the blistering heat the team has run in as the Alabama summer came to a close but that they've begun to found their stride.

"As far as growing, it's been great because I've been with a lot of the same girls since freshman year," Bokenfohr said. "It's been cool to see how far we've come in our training and in our studies. It shows how determined we are to make a difference in the program and make our coaches proud."

In the most recent meet, the JSU Foothills Invitational, the Trojans saw a season-best time out of all seven runners who raced in the event.

Bokenfohr credited Blount with infusing a team mentality in their heads and the newcomers on the team for reminding the elder members of why they love running in the first place.

"The new girls are really fun," Bokenfohr said of the four new freshmen on the team. "After running for four years, you can get stuck in your way. You forget how blessed you are to have this talent. They remind us it's important to work hard but to be happy doing it."

With the Sun Belt championships wrapping up on the final weekend of October, the Trojans know they only have a few weeks to make adjustments. They also know who they are.

"We're running as a pack," Garriques said. "We want to get some things done."

Troy University Athletics

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Katrina Bokenfohr

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Bradley Dixon

Brennan Garriques

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