Run with a teammate or two or three and stay with that “pack.”

Keep within contact of the desired race position.

And try to get into a rhythm and keep it going throughout the race.

This is head cross country coach Geoff Masanet’s race plan for the first meet of the season, this weekend, in Nashville Tenn.

Masanet said this plan is pretty general and will work for the other meets down the road but since this is the first meet of the season it is important to see how well these things get accomplished.

“We go there deliberately with a very specific race plan that we expect them to follow,” Masanet said. “If it means they don’t race up to their potential because they were held back by my race plan then that is part of the design too.”

In cross country, a “pack,” or a group of teammates, running together is very important because the pack will help to encourage each other and maintain a certain pace throughout the race.

Masanet said in the early meets especially, the packs will start to settle in and the team gets a chance to see who runs well together which will set the tone for the rest of the year.

“We want to really pack it up and run hard as a team not as individuals because that will help show the freshmen how we try to stay unified in races,” junior Katie O’Brien said.

The next part to Masanet’s race plan is to keep within contact of your position.

Masanet said that by looking at last years finishes and times they can try to determine a projected place finish for each individual.

Masanet said by asking them to remain in contact with that position, it helps the runners to keep that position in sight to where at any given time they can surge and catch up to that placing.

The last part Masanet made sure to emphasize was to get into a rhythm and keep it going throughout the race.

“We are going to float or cruise the first half and then the last half is when you actually race,” sophomore Mario Castrejon said. “You have to really push during the last half and not strain to much in the first half.”

Masanet said the varying terrain in cross country makes it harder to maintain a certain rhythm but that is exactly what he wants the runners to do.

“If they are running erratically throughout the race it will tire them out more than keeping a steady rhythm throughout,” Masanet said.

The course at Percy-Warner Park in Nashville is mostly flat and hard but with a few hills.

Masanet said the hardness of the ground and the flat terrain should make for a very quick race with fast times.

The team is not expecting the hills to be much of a challenge because they are smaller than the hills the Panthers practice on in Charleston.

“We are going to maintain not strain early and attack the hills late; follow our plans and just see what happens,” Masanet said. “That’s what this meet is all about.”