Photo: Matt Boggs | The Sentinel
Mason Wittner, Staff Writer
Cross-country is a sport in which individuals race one another while running long distances on various terrains. For one member of Kennesaw State’s cross-country team, however, the term has two meanings.
Daniel Garcia is currently a freshman runner on the KSU cross-country team. He has finished in the top five in all but one of his meets this season and was named the Atlantic Sun Runner of the Week three teams this fall. Garcia started at KSU last December and previously attended Escoles Perez Iborra Barcelona High School in Barcelona, Spain.
“I’ve actually been here since last year,” said Garcia on his transition from Spain to America. “So it wasn’t that hard to adjust myself to this team. It was just getting used to the new environment.”
Originally recruited to run track, Garcia has managed to adjust to KSU’s cross-country team quickly as he placed first in his first meet this fall. At the Clemson Invitational on Aug. 30, Garcia ran 5K in 19:44.6, nearly ten seconds ahead of second place runner Aaron Ramirez from Clemson [19:54.48].
“We have been working hard since August,” said Garcia. “Coach basically has put us hard to work and trained us, that’s all. Everything else has come together because of that.”
Garcia additionally placed second at the Mt. Dew Invitational at University of Florida on Sept. 20, running 8K with a time of 24:25.70. Garcia’s only predecessor was Jeremy Greenwald of Georgia Tech, who finished a minimal seven seconds ahead of him.
Last week at the Crimson Classic, Garcia’s second place finish in the 8K, with a time of 24:58.30, earned him his third A-Sun Runner of the Week honors this fall.
“We are thrilled to have Daniel win his third Atlantic Sun Runner of the Week award,” head coach Joel Pearson told ksuowls.com. “His performance at the Crimson Classic was awesome. We look forward to the Atlantic Sun Cross Country Championships next weekend as well as the NCAA South Regional Championships where Daniel will look to qualify for the national championships.”
Garcia has finished first out of the Owls this fall in every meet an average distance of 51 seconds between he and second place runner Dylan Titon through four events. His young leadership ability both on and off the course has heavily impacted KSU’s squad this season.
“Danny impacts the team in multiple ways, the first way is in his talent side,” said coach Pearson. “Obviously, being up front in all the races helps our team be more competitive not only in the A-Sun, but in the regional and national level. As a leader, he helps as far as showing his dedication and his work ethic, and that trickles down to having the rest of the team be a lot more dedicated and work a lot harder. So having him work as hard as he does, and his leadership, helps our team do better as a whole.”
Garcia’s success this season has put him in prime position to represent KSU not only in the conference championship on Nov. 1, but on a national level as well.
“It’s just another preparation for Danny,” said coach Pearson. “We want to obviously win the A-Sun Championships, but our biggest focus is representing Kennesaw State in the National Cross-Country Championships on Nov. 22. So, we are preparing a little bit more for the A-Sun Championships than we would for Alabama or Louisville, but we’re not preparing as much as we will for the regional championships or the national championships.”
Garcia and the Owls will look to excel once again, Nov. 1, as they travel to DeBarry, Fla. for the Atlantic Sun Cross Country Championships.
