CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern wraps up its 2015 season on Saturday at the Big South Cross Country Championships in Spartanburg. Junior Caleb Breeden will look to lead the Bucs' squad in the 8k that begins at 10:30 a.m.
Breeden has been CSU's top runner in each of its six events this fall. The Charlotte, N.C. product posted a solid time of 28:56.5 in his last outing two weeks ago at the Wake Forest Invitational. Breeden paced the Bucs and assistant coach for distance and jumps Sirena Williams' team to a 9th place finish last year, with a time of 29:24.10. Breeden and his teammates have been readying themselves for the conference meet over the last 15 days.
"We usually just cut down our mileage and we'll do a lot more quicker workouts," said Breeden of the layoff. "That's what we usually do to physically prepare. For me, mentally, I just kind of calm my nerves. "I've set, for myself, the goal to PR because it's a quick course. It's a really good racing course."
Breeden raced to a 7th place finish at the Will Wilson Citadel Invitational on September 26. His top time of the year came at the Royals XC Challenge, where he crossed the finish line in 27:52.6 to place 49th in a strong field. Breeden has been working to get healthier as he approached the third conference meet of his career.
"You've just gotta be mentally tough whether you're feeling fatigued or not," Breeden said. "I've just gotta keep pushing through because I know it's gonna hurt but I set myself a personal best goal regardless of whether or not I'm hurting so I'm gonna try my hardest to attain that."
Caleb Edgehill is the other top returner for CSU from a year ago. Edgehill had one of his better times of the season at the Big South Championships, running in 29:59.90. Harrison Huntley recorded a time of 31:56.90 last year, and Breeden has been enthused by his improvement over the last two months. Huntley posted a season-best time of 30:06.9 at the Royals XC Challenge.
"Harrison's actually really, really impressed me this year," Breeden said. "He's worked probably harder than anyone out there which is saying a lot because we all work really hard. He's dropped his times like crazy. K.C. (Kuaniyal Chol) and Caleb are doing really, really well this year as well."
"One thing that we all usually do is we come through at the first mile," Breeden continued. "I expect us to all be very, very close the first mile and just push each other and see how close we can all finish together."
