This season, 22 women have chosen to endure six practices a week, including morning workouts and two-and-a-half hour practices in the afternoons, in order to be a part of the women’s cross-country team.
Senior Dallis Bailey is among them. After being recruited by Harding’s track and cross-country head coach Steve Guymon. Joining the team in 2011, she immediately fell into what she calls “another family.”
That strong team tie has proven to be pivotal in the team’s success and will undoubtedly continue to be strengthened as they work collectively towards another conference championship.
A two-time 1st -team All-Great American Conference selection, Bailey admits that running can be a battle, but it is important to never stop working.
“When you have so many other people depending on you, slacking off is not an option,” Bailey said. “Slacking off only hurts everyone around you.”
The resulting accountability has helped the team grow as a unit. Guymon has picked up on this phenomenon.
“She has a way of uplifting the girls,” Guymon said. “She makes the younger girls better.”
More importantly, Bailey hopes to help the team maintain a sense of humility.
“No matter if you’re the number one runner or the number 12, you’re important,” Bailey said. “We need an encourager just as much as we need someone to run in the 17 minute range for a 5K.”
Harding’s women’s cross-country team has an impressive history. According to Guymon, the program’s goals were to win championships every year long before he took over. This year’s team goal is no different. Bailey and the rest of the team run with an expectation of achieving and superseding the success of their predecessors. That being said, Bailey said victories and awards will not be what she remembers most about being on the team. Instead she will remember how much fun it has been, not always certain races or achievements.
Bailey said the relationships she’s built with the girls is what she finds most valuable.
Although running is often most athletes’ punishment, Bailey said she prefers to view it in another light.
“Running, to me, is a big stress reliever,” Bailey said. “I use it as a time with God. I pray a lot and think a lot.”
Sometimes she prays the same, repeated prayer: “God, help me get through this.”
Other times, Bailey said, running encourages her to “always be thankful to God for His blessings in her life ,and it gives her an opportunity to spend time with Him.”
Combine a collective passion for running, unwavering team unity, shared humility, sheer talent and a common goal of a conference championship and that is, in a nutshell, the Harding’s women’s cross-country team anchored by Biley.
Tomorrow the team will race in the Chile Pepper Cross Country festival in Fayetteville, Ark.
