Owls' O'Sullivan Headed to Premier Louisvlle XC Meet This Weekend

WESTFIELD, Mass. –  Westfield State University senior women's cross country runner Amy O'Sullivan (Greenfield, Mass.) will compete this Saturday, Oct. 2 at the "Live in Lou" Cross Country Classic at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.

The race is a preview meet for the NCAA Division III national championship meet, which will be run on the same course in late November.

"There will be a really good, huge field, a lot of competition, and a lot of girls who will be in the front pulling," said O'Sullivan, who said her goal "to see the course, and hopefully run around 22 minutes, which is my fastest time from my sophomore year."

"Any time you run a course for the first time it's strange," said Owls head coach Bill Devine.  "Once you get to learn it, you know your plusses and minuses for the next time and what to work on. Hopefully she's back there in about a month."

"I know that the course is kind of flat and rolling," said O'Sullivan, who noted that she will get a chance to see the course on Friday afternoon before the race.

Westfield State sent top runners Jessie Cardin '18 and Ashley Monahan '17 to the same meet in 2016, which proved to be a prelude to Cardin qualifying for the NCAA Division III Championship meet, where she placed 88th in the nation.

O'Sullivan's cross country team missed competition in the fall of 2020 due to the pandemic, but she stayed sharp with both team workouts and running on her own. In the spring of 2021, she briefly held the fastest time in the country in NCAA Division 3 in the 10,000 meters, and event she finished fifth in at the all-New England meet in a school-record time to cap the spring season.

"What she did last spring," said Devine, "I don't want to say she didn't skip a beat, but the time definitely helped her. All-New England, P.R., school-record, what more could you want?"

Running against top competition will be a good experience for O'Sullivan.

"It will help to be in a bigger field because I have ended up running on my own in some of the meets," said O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan won the season-opening Keene Alumni Invitational meet, placed seventh at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational, and was second last week at the Saratoga Invitational meet.

"Being against better competition in a bigger field sets you up mentally," said O'Sullivan.  "It's easier to run fast in a group than alone, because your mind will always tell you to take it a little bit easier on yourself.  In a group, it's easier to stay stronger because you never know how strong everyone else is feeling and it pushes you to stay with them, and it's good to get used to running in a bigger group."

O'Sullivan will compete in the Women's College Silver Race at 12:45 p.m., one of 12 races on the day at one of the nation's largest cross country festivals.  The course has been the home to 16 national championship events, numerous state high school championships, and the USATF World Team Trials.

O'Sullivan finished 24th at the NCAA Division III New England Regional meet in her sophomore season, with a time of 22:13, narrowly missing the chance to go to the national championship meet.

A strong finish at this year's Mid-East Regional (regions have been redrawn since the 2019 meet) could have O'Sullivan booked on a return flight to Louisville.

The top team, and top seven individuals (who aren't on one of the qualifying teams) from the Nov. 13 regional meet at Harkness Park in Waterford, Conn., plus 32 at-large teams, will advance to the national championship meet,  which will be held on Nov. 20.