The women’s and men’s cross country and track programs of Connecticut College have a strong sense of camaraderie and togetherness across all facets of the teams. This includes many of the fun and time honored traditions that the programs take part in over the academic year. From Apple Picking to End of Year Picnics, we really cherish the time spent together outside of the classroom and athletic environment.
CCXC Invitational and Silfen Invite
On an annual basis, we host two large, competitive, and fun meets that are always highlights of the year for our program, parents, and alumni! In the fall, we host the Connecticut College XC Invitational out at Harkness Park. Situated on the picturesque Long Island Sound, the meet serves as a great day for competition, but also an opportunity for us to honor our seniors and their families. This typically entails recognizing each senior and their family during the awards ceremony with small gifts of appreciation. Then we wrap it all by celebrating a great day with all CONN XC families and alumni present! At the Silfen Invitational in the spring, we follow a very similar set up to honor all of our track and field seniors, as well as their families. Additionally, we’ve have had a growing number of alumni return to hit the track in the ever competitive Alumni 4×4 Relay!
Community Service
An important aspect of being part of our program is not only to be to be a good teammates and a dedicated students, but also contributing members of our campus and local community. Each year, we aim to assist, learn, and engage on a local level through various organizations in the greater New London area. A few ways over the years we have assisted in the community is through local beach and schools clean-up, organizing “track & field days” at elementary schools, preparing and serving food at the New London Meal Center, land maintenance for the Avalonia Land Conservancy, and various other efforts.
End of Season Dinners and Picnics
No matter the end results, we feel that it’s important to stop, recognize, as well as celebrate our collective accomplishments over the course of each season. Typically this results in end of season gatherings for the cross country season and track season. Taking place in December and May, we come together around good food and good company to reflect on the season and the positive results of all our hardwork and teamwork.
Winter and Spring “Track Camp”
Two major highlights of the year for our program members is “Winter Track Camp” and “Spring Track Camp”. These two events take place during the college’s winter break and spring break holidays. While both of these events are filled with a lot of high quality time training and preparing for the upcoming indoor and outdoor seasons, it’s also a terrific time for a lot of bonding and fun among team members. A wide variety of activities take place during “track camp”, such as the following: a talent show, water polo tournament, go-kart racing, bowling, team dinners and outings, as well as community service projects. In addition to all of this fun, we also compete and have annually done an overnight trip to Bowdoin College for a meet during winter track camp. This past spring, we traveled to Philadelphia for a long weekend and competed at West Chester University
Cross Country Practice at The Tree
Since the very early years of Connecticut College Cross Country, it has been tradition for the cross country programs to begin each practice in front of the large beech tree and sugar maple by Knowlton House dorm on campus. This go to spot for our cross country teams is where you will find us all fall, whether we’re heading out for a run or finishing up the day with a team meeting.
Connecticut College XCTF 