Written by Cheyanne Mumphrey

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Being a cross country runner involves more than just running, as a matter of fact, it is very rare that an athlete focuses specifically on their sport alone. Athletes, in general, have to make sure their bodies are physically capable and ready to compete at a high level. This includes making the right choices as far as nutrition, maintaining strength while also pushing the limits in the weight room and practicing nearly every day.

"Everybody in the (Big Sky) conference and across the country is training harder and we are seeing better and better runners, year in and year out. Ultimately we concern ourselves with us; what can we do to get better?" strength coach Daniel Darcy explained. "What can we do program-wise to meet the need of our team that year? We treat each year differently based on who's competing and what they need."

Darcy works specifically with volleyball, track and men and women's cross country and is in charge of building and maintaining strength for each individual athlete. When an athlete first comes to NAU, they get acclimated to college, Division I athletics and Flagstaff's elevation. The first few months are where Darcy teaches anything and everything involving strength, conditioning, nutrition and health. As each semester passes they are taught more complex workouts and more specific exercises that emulate their movements during competitions.

"Lifting is huge, yet they don't realize that coming in, so there's a huge educational component of understanding what we are doing, why we are doing it and how it's going to benefit them," Darcy explained. "There's really two big pieces that I sell; one is durability. Your ability to run the mileage that they are being asked to run. Female cross country runners build up to as high as 80 miles, which is a huge amount and if your body is not durable, meaning strong enough, to withstand that impact, you will get hurt and we'll have those overuse injuries. The second piece of that is run economy, which means the efficiency of your run. Your strides, your arm action — it's trying to do little things in here (the weight room) that aren't exactly running — actions that are similar to where they need to be strong in the positions they need to be a great runner and move in that linear direction. Or even in a cross country setting where they are off-road and need to have good ankle stability."

Working on both durability and run economy can translate to being faster by seconds, which at this level could be the difference between being a champion or not.

Another thing Darcy enforces is trusting the process. "Not everyday is going to be a great day, but we are still going to put forth our best effort each and every day, follow the process and execute the things we need that day because we know we're going to set ourselves up for success when we need to be successful."

Much like anything else the women's cross country runners do, their preparation in the weight room translates to their success on the course.

"Preparation is extremely important, regardless of what event," junior distance runner Paige Gilchrist said. "We all train year round and everything we do is with a long-term goal in mind. It is difficult training all year and it's important to train smart and take time when you need, but know that conference week of each season is the most important."

Most runners on the cross country team, run distance in both the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, meaning that they run for three separate seasons.

"Those individuals are being asked to perform at a very high level at least three times a year," explained Darcy. "I have a cross country program, an indoor program and an outdoor program and the biggest piece of that is not so much during that time, but it's after that time that they need to recover. We treat it like a traditional team who would have one year to train and two weeks off, but we have them do the same thing three times a year. After cross country ends for certain individuals we give them two weeks off, we do the same indoor and the same outdoor and that's just from a lifting perspective."

For Darcy, training this much and this hard is what allows them to win and do so well every year.

"We train year round because we want to win and we know that trusting the process is what's going to lead to that success."

It is definitely investing their time, trusting the process and putting in work that has allowed these girls to run as hard and as fast as they do — they train like winners.