Women’s cross country team adds new coach

By William Sandberg | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Flagler’s men’s and women’s cross country teams are already halfway through their seasons, but with a new women’s coach, and having moved to NCAA, they are already looking ahead in anticipation for next season.

For Christy Calderon-Castelli, the new women’s head coach, it has been a learning experience, but the women runners enjoy finally having a coach of their own.

“Having two separate coaches now has helped everyone out,” senior captain Jamie Stanish said. “It’s nice to have another female to relate to.”

Dave Williams had coached both teams, but is now focused on the men’s team.

Cole DiStefano, who joined the team last year, has seen a change for the better with the new coaching staff.

“We are progressing more and more throughout the season,” DiStefano said. “Our times have improved. I’m like a cheetah when I run.”

Flagler’s move from the NAIA to the NCAA seems to have brought the team closer together through competition as well.

“There can be a thousand people at a meet,” DiStefano said. “The feeling you get when you look at all the people around you and you know that you’re going to have to run against them, it gets you really psyched.”

Practices have also become longer and the amount of miles that the team runs in a week can rack up into the hundreds.

“It’s getting more and more intense with every day,” junior Amber Lane said.

At the Disney Classic in Lake Buena Vista on Oct. 6, the women finished 34th. At the Sodexho/Stetson Hatter Invitational on Oct. 12, the men’s team finished ties for 11th place and the women finished in 12th.