Head coach Geoff Masanet kept referring to the alumni meet as a “glorified practice.” From a training aspect, it was.

But it was a lot more than that.

It was more than putting in miles and keeping their legs in shape.

It was more than running and getting a feel for the course before this weekend’s Panther Invitational.

And even though Masanet said he only expected a few people to come back, it was more than just the eight to 10 people he thought were coming.

About 10 alumni ran and at least 10 more just came to hang out and watch.

But still, it was more than all that.

The alumni meet seemed to be about encouragement and improvement for the Panthers.

It was about Kyle O’Brien and Jeff Jonaitis, who both qualified for the Olympic trials in the marathon and Dan Strackeljahn, who is currently training for the Olympic trials, all coming back to run with the current Eastern team.

“Especially with O’Brien and J.J. (Jonaitis) coming back, it really shows the other guys what you can do even after you graduate,” said Strackeljahn, a 2007 grad.

Strackeljahn finished one stride behind the first place runner, senior Brad Butler. O’Brien and Jonaitis finished about 10 seconds behind them.

“It is pretty cool they come down to see us and run with us, but I know they are just out there and not really giving it 100 percent,” Butler said. “They are just sort of cruising and trying to help me out. I really appreciated that they ran with me and helped me out instead just going out and dominating me.”

The meet was also about two strong leaders on the women’s team last year who can’t be here this season, Nicole Flounders and Jillian Blondell, who came back to help encourage the young team.

Blondell held a meeting with the women after the race, telling the women how the jump to college level running is a big change and that they need to stay strong and take risks.

“The talk was basically about doing the little things like, getting your runs in, and your stretching in, and going to the training room when you need to so we can grow as a team,” sophomore Erin O’Grady said.

The meet was also about runners helping pull other runners along.

With the men and women running in the same race, Masanet said you could see the women starting off a little faster then they would have just by themselves.

Flounders came back to run with and push O’Grady like she used to last year and O’Grady said that really helped her see what she has to do for herself as well as to help be a leader on the team.

Watching all the meetings and talks and seeing the interactions between current and former Eastern runners, I saw a lot of lessons about leadership, encouragement and teamwork that I think the Panthers will be able to take with them throughout the rest of the season and beyond.