Valdosta, GA. – What a strong first race for our Stallions and Fillies Cross Country teams!
The ABAC’s women’s and men’s teams kicked off their 2025 season by attending VSU’s Border Clash, facing strong competition on all different levels from Division 2, NAIA’S, and JUCO programs.
Head Coach Kaitlyn Hunt discusses how she prepared her team for the VSU meet: “We didn’t have a whole lot of time because they couldn’t start training until the week of the 22 of Aug.”
With only a week and a half of training, Coach Hunt did everything she could to make sure her athletes were prepared, from four to five practices a week with drills and tempo runs to sprints and a time trial.
Coach Hunt continued, “Like I said, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to prepare, so we were mostly relying on their summer training that they did independently.”
While time hadn’t been on their side, Coach Hunt trusted her team and their summer training.
“I was really excited for them. I told them to not look at it as a competition but more so that this is fun… it’s exciting that this is how we’re kicking off the season,” Hunt continued, and she couldn’t help but feel emotional and fulfilled even before the gun went off.
“I was just so proud.”
For their first race, ABAC’s Stallions overall finished fifth out of six teams, led by Alec Stapp who finished 28:48.7. Our Fillies team came in 10th out of 13 teams.
Freshman Rebeca Lopez gave an impressive performance, concluding with a time of 22:50.6. With this time, Lopez has broken ABAC’s record for fastest women’s 5K time for cross country.
Lopez said, “When I first learned I broke the school record, I was proud of myself. I had been disappointed in my performance at VSU knowing I have performed better in the past, but knowing I did something that my family, friends, and teammates were proud of me made me realize how important it was!”
Even though Lopez has made history for the school, she looks forward to breaking the record once more, using what she learned for the VSU meet.
“A lesson I learned was to not get into my head so much before a race and also to trust myself to do what I know I can do,” Lopez said. “I will use this as motivation and a reminder that I am cable of doing more than I know I can for the rest of conference.”
While both the men and women’s cross-country teams didn’t finish first overall, Hunt is hopeful for the future of the team and for the rest of the season.
“Obviously, you’re wanting to do well as a team. Winning an award would be great, but it’s important to set a personal goal.”
Hunt further said, “As long as you’re getting better and beating your time or making yourself happy in terms of your own personal growth, that’s all that matters.”
Keep up to date about ABAC’s Cross Country team through our athletics page, and follow their Instagram @abaccrosscountry.
