Canaan Anderson’s last home meet was the first for new Tennessee cross-country head coach Justin Duncan.
Duncan spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State and capped off his tenure with a men’s NCAA Championship last season. He joined Tennessee earlier this month with hopes of building the Vols and Lady Vols into a premier distance program.
With only two weeks to prepare for the first race for the Vols and Lady Vols, Duncan didn’t have time to put new training methods in place. All he could do was get to know his team as best he could.
“From the past two weeks, it’s honestly been more of an emphasis on just connecting with the athletes,” Duncan said. “And you know, spending some one-on-one time. We’ve done some big group activities, brunches, but really kind of meeting with them one on one and trying to establish and form those strong relationships.”
Duncan took over for Sean Carlson, who led Tennessee to first-place regional finishes in both the men’s and women’s NCAA South Regional last season.
Anderson found success in Duncan’s first race, winning the Tennessee Cross Country Invitational from a pack of nine Tennessee runners. The Murfreesboro native won his first career cross-country race in his last time competing in Knoxville.
“It was really exciting to race at Tennessee one more time and wear the orange,” Anderson said. “We had a great group of guys out there as you saw, so it was a great time with them.”
In the women’s race, Msgana Araya began her fifth season with the Lady Vols with a win. She finished the 3-mile race in 18:01.90 in a large pack of Tennessee runners.
As the season continues on, Duncan wants to keep runners in a pack together throughout the race. While this will be more challenging as the season goes on, Duncan believes the plan will lead to success.
“It’s trying to pack the women and the men as much as possible, have them running as a group, as a team and keeping it together,” Duncan said. “They live with each other. They cheer with each other. They’re racing with each other.”
Tennessee’s cross-country program has traditionally been a powerhouse in the SEC. The men’s program has won 25 SEC championships and the 1972 national championship. The Lady Vols have won the SEC five times in their history.
With a strong history, Tennessee is looking to excel in cross-country alongside all other sports. That dedication was apparent to Duncan during the interview process.
“The first thing that excited me was the administration, hearing from the administration, from Danny White, Marcus Hilliard and everyone (who) supports us,” Duncan said. “Their vision, their competitiveness, their passion, it really got me going.”
Duncan now has four weeks to prepare for Tennessee’s next meet, which comes at Florida State. The Seminoles will host the NCAA South Regional, so the meet is important for Tennessee’s NCAA Championship preparation.
The Vols and Lady Vols will carry substantial momentum into their schedule this season from the opening win. The schedule gets tougher, which means the training will be tougher as well.
“We’re just kind of hitting the ground running in terms of just starting to ease into longer tempo workouts, a lot of aerobic work,” Duncan said. “Nothing that is too different from what they’ve been doing over the summer. But obviously, in the next four to six weeks, things will start to ramp up.”
