Sports is all about competition. Track and field/cross country is the absolute pinnacle of pure competition in sports. Racing. From the time we are little, we all settled disagreements on the playground by racing, and many of us made friends or lifelong rivals through those settlements.
That competition is the driving force that allows us to push ourselves to heights that no one expected. Sometimes, that competition is found in our own teammates, and perhaps no better example of that could be found in teammates Hannah McInturff and Sarah Feeny of Utah cross country.
The rivalry that Hannah and Sarah have with each other is the kind of rivalry that produces team results that are out of this world! No doubt, it's been the key contributing factor that has resulted in the Utes sudden rise in the polls.
The sporting world has seen tandems like this before and almost all of them have resulted in unprecedented individual and team success.
ESPN's 30 For 30 recently highlighted one of the more famous team tandems in NCAA history in the documentary "Trojan War." Reggie Bush and LenDale White. Bush of course won the Heisman Trophy and was one of the most electrifying players in college football history. LenDale White quietly led the team in rushing two years in a row and, along with Bush, was a unanimous All-American.
Known as "Thunder and Lightning," Bush and White were arguably the best running back duo in NCAA history. Without each other though, neither would have ever been able to accomplish what they did both individually and as a team.
Hannah and Sarah are Utah cross country's "Thunder and Lightning." Who is "Thunder" and who is "Lightning" is up for debate. Neither one is too far away from the other at any given time.
Hannah and Sarah undoubtedly use this friendly but fierce rivalry with each other to their advantage. At Notre Dame, Sarah finished 7th (16:44.0) while Hannah finished 9th (16:49.5). But at the NCAA Pre-Nationals, Hannah pulled ahead of Sarah to finish 5th (20:09.0) while Sarah finished 9th (20:12.1).
If you've noticed by those times, when one trails the other, it's only by a very small margin. Only an average of about 3.5 seconds. All that means is that they keep pace with each other throughout the bulk of the race, and then at some point they eye each other, dish out a mental challenge, and sprint it out to the finish.
This weekend's Pac-12 Cross Country Championship in Washington is going to be exciting to watch. "Exciting" isn't the first word that comes to mind when you think of cross country, but when there's an anticipated grudge match between two rival teammates to look forward to, it becomes nothing but exciting. The fact that both of them are only sophomores makes Utah's future look very bright.
OK. All of this boils down to one question. Between the two of them, who finishes the course first this weekend? Hannah or Sarah? Will "Thunder" roll before "Lightning" strikes? Who knows.
My prediction? Hannah will finish ahead of Sarah but both will finish in the top 10 and both will run national qualifying times. If I'm wrong, I'll owe the other one an apology which I'll be gladly willing to give.
Good luck this weekend ladies! Make us proud and show everyone in the Pac-12 why you're a force to be reckoned with!
Feeny's success has been predicted, but I'm amazed at how Hannah McInturff has absolutely exploded this year. Did anyone see this coming? Solid prep career and she took another step last year with some nice XC and track performances, but I never would have predicted she'd turn into an elite XC runner this fall.
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