Grizzlies set to compete in NJCAA Cross Country National Championships
Some had their doubts in the season even happening. Others believed we wouldn't make it through the semester, but the Butler Cross Country teams have made it to November and are headed to the NJCAA National Championships this weekend.
"It has been a challenging and uncertain season," said head coach Dustin Mettler. "With COVID-19 always looming in the back of your head, it was tough to stay focused and continue to work on improving every day."
Back in early August when practices began for cross country, the season was still in the balance as all other fall sports had been moved to the spring semester.
When asked if he was surprised to be at this point in the season, the final meet, this is what coach Mettler had to say.
"Yes and no," commented Mettler. "At first I didn't think we would have a season due to the fact that everyone was canceling or postponing around us, but once we got into the season I knew if we did our part, we would make it to this point."
The Grizzlies did compete in a few less meets than a normal year with NCAA schools cancelling seasons and in turn their meets they usually play host to no longer an option. For the Grizzlies that was school such as Fort Hays State and Emporia.
The team made the most of the meets they did compete in setting new personal bests and competing very well along the way.
Zadie St. Louis, sophomore from Desruisseaux, St. Lucia, led the Grizzlies in every meet this season and was the 4th place finisher in the Region VI Championships two weeks ago. Zadie ran her fastest time of her career at the Region VI meet with a 19:15.77.
"This has been my best cross country season thus far in my career," said the sophomore from St. Lucia. "I have broken my personal best twice in just four meets this season and I felt very strong and confident in every race I stepped foot in this season. This season has taught me to adapt and reconcile to different circumstances with COVID and it has only made me stronger mentally than I have ever been before." 
Breaking the nineteen-minute mark has been a goal for Zadie all season long and she has high hopes of hitting that mark this weekend.
"My goal is to break the nineteen-minute barrier in my final 5K race of the season," said Zadie.
Sophomore teammate Stephany Lechuga and redshirt freshman Sylvia Korir have also had strong performances this year from the Grizzlies. Freshman Emily Hankins has also shown a lot of talent in her races this season and will look for a strong finish to her freshman campaign.
Obadia Tanui, redshirt freshman from Eldoret, Kenya, paced the men's side all season long finishing inside the top seven in every meet with a fourth and third place finish. He finished seventh in a very competitive Region VI field two weeks ago running an 8K time of 25:36.91.
Tarik Xavier, sophomore from Castries, St. Lucia, has also put together a solid season with two top 10 finishes this season and a 16th place finish in the 90-runner field at the Region VI Championships. Freshmen Daniel Birchell and Issa Amfa both have shown promise this season and will get their first National Championship action this weekend where they hope to set new personal bests.
"I would love to see both our women and men finish inside the top 10 this weekend," said Mettler. "Anything better than that is icing on the cake for us."
With all the uncertainty, quarantines, self-isolations and challenges this season has presented, the Grizzlies have kept their heads up and continued to push themselves day in and day out.
"With everything we have been though this season, I just want to see our runners compete at their best against the best in the country," mentioned Mettler.
Zadie St. Louis added, "amidst all of this, COVID has built us mentally like nothing else. Our coach urged us to train our hardest and compete like it was the last race every day because COVID has made everything unpredictable. We have leared to adjust to these factors and raced very well all season. We continue to train hard every day as a team, and I am very excited to compete in the NJCAA cross country nationals during this global pandemic."
The NJCAA Division I Cross Country Women's 5K ace will begin at 9:30am on Saturday, November 14th at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, IA. The men's 8K race will follow at 10:15am.
