Starting freshman year of college will make anyone nervous, especially if you have to race some of the top cross country runners in the nation.

ANNA BOWLES

Lady Bulldog freshman Anna Bowles and Carly Hamilton have already been immersed into the collegiate running scene, seeing action in the cross country team’s first two meets of the season. What’s remarkable, though, is their early results.

Hamilton, who finished second at the Ohio state cross country meet her senior year of high school, was named the Southeastern Conference co-freshman of the week after finishing second at the Georgia State Invite this past weekend. Bowles finished fourth at the season-opening Georgia Invitational on the team’s home course in Hampton, Ga.

Much of their early success can be attributed to their ability to keep up with the top runners in practice. High school teams typically have a wide gap between their varsity and JV runners and most top athletes only have a couple people that they can train with. On the collegiate level, most runners compete at the same pace, making it imperative for everyone to keep up.

“Running with the team is a lot more competitive and the level of training is a lot higher in college,” Hamilton said. “It has been great to see that we can stick with the pack and run with other girls; in high school you might only have one other training partner.”

The leader of that pack has taken notice of the two young runners. Senior Kristie Krueger, one of three women All-Americans in Georgia cross country history, likes what she has seen out of the freshmen and admires their work ethic and their assimilation with the upperclassmen. She thinks that their biggest change is going from running a 5k in high school, to a 6k in college, which requires them to approach the race in a different way and alter their pace.

CARLY HAMILTON

“In high school they were the standouts. Now they have to deal with running in a huge pack of competitive runners,” commented Krueger on their transition to college running. “I really don’t think they’ve had a problem with it. They’re really competitive.”

Their biggest strength might not lie in training or racing, but their willingness to learn and listen to head coach Jeff Pigg and the veteran runners. While the problem arises for many freshmen in collegiate sports, Bowles and Hamilton know how to use the resources surrounding them to make them better runners and become closer with the team.

“They’re really good about listening to coach Pigg. Sometimes freshmen have trouble listening and carrying out what the coaches need them to do, but they haven’t,” Krueger said. “They’ve been able to work together in groups and push each other; they’re fun to be around.”

Working as a group becomes essential this weekend — the Bulldogs travel to South Bend to take part in the Notre Dame Invitational, the first big meet for the 2011 season and Hamilton and Bowles’ careers. Notre Dame’s men are currently tied for 22^nd with Texas in the Division I National Cross Country Coaches Poll, the women’s team is unranked.

The Georgia Invitational and the Georgia State Invite allowed coaches to learn more about the team and determine who will travel. Bowles and Hamilton will both be making the trip after their strong performances.

“It will be really cool to run with big teams in an important race. I’m excited to run in that kind of atmosphere,” Bowles said.

This year’s Notre Dame Invitational is stacked higher than a library shelf on stilts, with 8 ranked teams in the guys’ race, and 6 in the girls’. Pigg is hoping to use this so his team will become even stronger.

“It’s great when you have strong teams in a race because it makes everyone better,” Pigg said. “They know they have to run faster due to the large depth of runners.”