In her freshman year, Caitlyn Foss remembered teammates feeling unprepared and terrified of the competition at the Big West Cross Country Championships.
Now a senior, Foss has a dramatically different outlook. A coaching change in her sophomore season came with gradual and eventually noticeable transformations. Morale improved, times dropped and a passion for racing developed. Foss said the Rainbow Wahine are feeling confident heading into Saturday’s Big West Championships at Kahuku Golf Course.
“I don’t think we’ve been able to say that in the past,” Foss said.
The men’s 8-kilometer race starts at 7 a.m. with the women’s 6K to follow. Defending champion Cal Poly will go after its fourth women’s title in five years. Faith Makau of UC Riverside is the defending women’s individual champion. The UC Santa Barbara men have won the past two team titles.
Foss credits coach Tim Boyce for the program’s turnaround. The Rainbow Wahine finished last in her first two Big West Championships. Hawaii improved to seventh in 2015 during a season where three runners — Camille Campos, Alli Cross and Montana Martinez — earned Big West athlete of the week honors.
“We know we have our work cut out for us to be top five or better,” said Boyce, now in his third year at UH. “Our goal is to really shoot for that and leave it all out on the course Saturday.”
Campos returned for her sophomore season adjusted to college life and confident in herself and her faith. She’s won two races this season and finished in the top 10 in all five she’s competed in. She was second at the Capital Cross Challenge in Sacramento, Calif., to earn her second career Big West weekly honor. Campos was third at the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara two weeks ago.
“I think my relationship with God has improved my entire mental state and spiritual state,” Campos said. “Just knowing I can do anything and I can be confident in myself.”
Sophomore Tristan Setzer moved up from being the team’s seventh and eighth runner last season to fourth and fifth. Maddie Furhman, a freshman, has been in the Rainbow Wahine’s scoring five all season. Compared to her freshman season, Boyce said Foss has dropped her 5K time by two minutes.
“For her to now be to be part of a competitive program at the University of Hawaii has been especially rewarding,” Boyce said of Foss. “The improvement the team has made and the improvements she’s made individually has been significant. I think that her improvement is one of the things I try to point to when we are recruiting. Yes, you can come to Hawaii and have your best running days ahead.”
