ELON, N.C. – After a summer of nagging injuries with recovery training that extended into the season, redshirt sophomore Evan Taylor left no doubt he was back to full form at the Phoenix Invitational on Friday morning.
 
Though he has been the usual top finisher for the Elon University men's cross country team the last couple of years, Taylor said injuries led to him underperforming so far.
 
While waving his hands together to make a motion that resembled a Phoenix flapping its wings, Taylor crossed the finish line in first place of the men's 8K. Following his victory, Taylor was elated to finally see his training pay off. He said that a win like Friday is exactly where he hoped to be by this late in the season.

"It feels really good to be getting back into form when I need to be," Taylor said. "It was a hard mental struggle throughout the beginning of this year, not being where I wanted to be coming into the season, but at least now, I'm feeling like I'm ready to run conference, and I feel like there's still more to give after last week."

Despite the 25:27.8 win marking Taylor's first-ever Division I individual race title, he did not dwell on the victory.
 
"After finishing, one of my first thoughts was, 'Where are we going to finish the team?'" Taylor said.
 
About :11 seconds behind Taylor was fellow veteran, junior Caden Strickland, who took second place for the Phoenix. Three more Elon runners – including two freshmen – finished in the top 20. When it was all said and done, the Phoenix men had won a team championship for the first time since 2019.
 
"It's really encouraging not only for conference but also for the next couple of years, and it just put a cherry on top of that entire win," Taylor said. "To be able to say, not only that I helped take home the title, but I helped be that low stick for our guys and we proved to everybody that [even] with new training and new coaching, that we are a team to take seriously."
 
Taylor said the benefit of knowing the lay of the land entering the meet allowed him and the team to make more decisive moves than their competition was able to.
 
"I think our course is one where going into it, knowing your turns, knowing your terrain is really big," Taylor said. "I found myself being able to take turns sharper than other people because I knew they were there."
 
Taylor explained that because the meet was at Elon, it should not be overlooked how many factors were beneficial to the team's success aside from just "home-course advantage."
 
"The ability to wake up in your own bed and not have to sleep in a hotel, or not have to do a whole bunch of travel on the day of is big for how your legs feel," Taylor said. "Having a lot of school support is really big. Classes came out and parents were there. That is super inspiring when you're running around that course for a 6K and an 8K."
 
Friday did not just mark Taylor's first collegiate win, though. Junior Jasmine Young stepped up, running a 21:58.7 to take home the women's 6K individual title.
 
With seven of the women's top runners out of town competing at NCAA Pre-Nationals, Young found herself at the front of the pack for Elon. Though she would not be typically leading the way, Young said reassuring messaging from her teammates gave her a boost of confidence entering the race.
 
"They just said, 'Believe in yourself," Young said.
 
Young explained that a regular struggle for her over the last couple of years has been allowing for her fitness "to transfer into racing." Once she had encouragement from her teammates and a crowd behind her though, Young was able to remember her training and stay in the moment.
 
"Having all the support from home field advantage really helped me out with trying to stay focused during the race," Young said. "And I just stayed strong."
 
Though there was some jockeying for position before she reached the finish line, Young managed to beat out her second-place competition by just over four seconds.
 
Young said her first-ever individual title came as a result of the team working harder than they ever have before. She explained that even though the training can be a grind, everyone is enjoying the daily process to get better.
 
With the Invitational being the last meet of the regular season, Taylor and Young are already looking ahead to CAA Championships on Nov. 1. They acknowledged that even though there is still a lot of training left before the conference meet, there is a sense of excitement and anticipation from both teams.
 
With Elon playing host to the championship meet, in addition to a recent win and successful training sessions, Taylor said though he has some nerves going in, he thinks that the men are in a good position heading into next weekend.
 
"The general feeling on the men's team is definitely one of excitement," Taylor said. "It's just a matter of channeling that excitement and those nerves, and really executing on the day and not getting too ahead of ourselves."
 
With Taylor hitting his stride right before CAAs, he said he is excited about being in the mix for an individual conference championship title. He explained that even though there is a lot of talent in the CAA – mentioning runners from William & Mary, Northeastern and Stony Brook – having the chance to compete is all he needs.
 
"The fact that I will be able to put my nose in there with those guys, have that home course advantage and make a name for myself in this conference is something I'm very excited about, and something I've thought about throughout my entire summer and fall training," Taylor said.
 
With the women's five-peat on the line, Young said everyone in the CAA will be gunning for the Phoenix in an effort to dethrone them from a sixth consecutive title defense.
 
"We all know that we're the ones with the targets on our back," Young said.
 
Young said even with the departure of talent from their program last season, she thinks opposing teams are underrating what Elon is capable of.
 
"I think we've probably been overlooked by the other teams in the CAA," Young said. "We know that we believe in our team, we believe in our fitness and we've got nothing to lose."
 

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'Rising Phoenix' is a 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 X (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Chase Strawser at cstrawser@elon.edu.

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