ELON, N.C. – After walking off the course at the Winthrop adidas Invitational on Sept. 30,
Caden Strickland's day was just getting started.
Strickland started off his Saturday by earning his best career finish for the Elon University men's cross country team, as he placed fifth in the men's 8k race in Rock Hill, S.C. Following the race in the morning, he traveled home with the team and returned to Elon around 4 p.m.
However, there was little down time for Strickland, as the sophomore had to get ready for a 5 p.m. call time to commentate on Elon's volleyball match against Northeastern for Elon Sports Vision later that night. While the Phoenix lost in five sets, Strickland delivered a successful solo call to cap off a busy day.
"It was fun, but it was really stressful," Strickland said. "Sadly, [volleyball] didn't pull it out, but it was a fun call."
In his second year with the Phoenix, Strickland has taken a leap forward with his results. In all three of his appearances this season, Strickland has been among Elon's top four finishers, a feat he did not achieve in any of his four starts last fall.
Strickland clocked a 25:58 at Saturday morning's meet, marking the best time of his young career. Not only did Strickland earn the best finish for an Elon runner this season, he helped the team place second in the event, its best result of the fall.
"I'm definitely happy with how it went this weekend," Strickland said.
Even without captains Zane Jackson and Evan Taylor, the Phoenix performed well and had four other runners turn in top-20 finishes – Nate Mars, Daniel King, Colby Robbins and Joe Lavelle.
Of Elon's 14 runners this season, 12 are underclassmen. Strickland said he is not only excited about the team's future in the next few years with such a young roster, but is also confident about the team's chances later this month at the CAA Championship.
"It's been really special to watch the team grow," Strickland said. "We're showing a lot of signs that we can be super competitive at the conference level right now, and we're only going to get better from here on out."
For Strickland, being an All-CAA performer later this month is his top goal for the rest of the season, followed by running a sub-25 minute time in an 8k race.
"I'm going to work harder than anybody else. I'm going to train harder these next four weeks. I'm going to be the hardest worker around. I'm going to sleep better than everybody else, live better than everybody else. I know that I have what it takes to get that done," Strickland said.
'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.
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