SHELBYVILLE, Ind. — A few hundred runners and coaches are in Shelbyville this weekend for the Big Ten Cross Country Championships.
Cross country usually competes in the fall, but Shelby County landed this event amid major pandemic adjustments to college athletics.
The Big Ten cross country season starts and finishes Saturday in Shelbyville.
"I had to Google it and figure out where it was on a map,” said Angela Reckart, Penn State cross country associate head coach, as her teams trained in Shelbyville Friday. “But here we are. The course looks great, flat, and the weather conditions look as almost as ideal as they could be."
Blue River Cross Country Course, located in Blue River Memorial Park, is hosting the men's and women's Big Ten Cross Country Championships, the first and only meet of a season that was canceled by COVID-19 last fall.
"We're just honestly really grateful for the opportunity that we can come out here and run after the crazy, unprecedented year,” said Scarlet Poppydale, a Wisconsin junior runner. “We're just really grateful for the organizers and our coaches and everyone in the Big Ten for letting us have this chance. We’re just ready to make the most of it."
Wisconsin runners undergo COVID-19 testing three times a week.
"We are very strict with how we handle COVID and we take it extremely seriously,” said Lexi Westley, a Wisconsin sophomore runner. “It just shows that we've had this opportunity and we're allowed to keep training because we're just doing all the little things to keep each other safe and our community safe."
A casual conversation between the course director and an IU athletic official led to Shelby County hosting the winter meet without even bidding. The conference was looking for relatively flat terrain, a centrally located course to host a winter meet. The one-and-done event gives conference runners the chance to qualify for the rescheduled NCAA Cross Country Championships in March.
No spectators, not even parents are allowed on the course because of COVID-19 precautions, but hosting the Big Ten Championships is still a big deal for Shelbyville.
"This puts us on the map,” said Gary Nolley, Blue River Cross Country Course director. “People know about us because it's the Big Ten, so it's going to give us great coverage for that and just raise the profile of our community and of our facility. I hope everybody talks well of us when they leave here and spread the word."
The women take off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday for a 6k race. The men run 8k at 2:00 p.m. (Free on BTN+)