Cross Country is Back After 15 Years

By Wayne Dawes | Published December 19, 2022

Danielle Todman is the head coach for the men’s and women’s cross-country team and has brought her years of experience with her.

Before Kean university, Todman coached at Essex County Vocational Technical High School for six years and six years with Department of Defense High schools in Italy and England. What she emphasizes to her runners is that you can’t have promise without process.

“The promise is in the process. The small investment we put in everyday to see our large return,” Todman said. 

The 2022 season recently concluded and for Todman, she is humbled and blessed to be a part of something special. Building trust with her runners was one of the highlights of the season and seeing greatness with everyone she coaches. 

“They chose and trusted me to be their coach, I got to witness their improvements week after week, watch them set personal records, and watch them persevere through some of the toughest courses,” Todman said. “[I’m] blessed to witness their greatness.”

Kean has brought back cross country for the first time since 2007 and Todman is honored that Kean selected her to be the coach of the team and build a new legacy within the sport.

“[I’m] humbled that Mr. Kelly and Jay chose me to not just be the coach, but to build up the champions and build the program,” Todman said. “[I’m] honored that I get to build a legacy alongside some of the greatest people, my team.”

Kean’s cross-country team concluded their season in 2007 and was inactive until Todman organized a team 15 years later.  

The men and women’s cross-country teams started the Fall 2022 season on Sept. 2 with 37 runners and concluded the season on Nov. 5. 

William Mitchell, a freshman majoring in finance, and a runner on the men’s cross-country team, thanks Todman for his “mental toughness” and for motivating him and holding him accountable during his meets.

“It feels awesome to help bring back this sport and it will be nice to see the program grow year after year,” Mitchell said. 

Cross country takes a lot of hard work, practice, and dedication. Staying motivated can be hard but in the end, it is satisfying seeing their hard work pay off. 

“Even though practices and meets are very difficult, success outweighs the struggle,” Mitchell said. “Later in life, I’m not going to remember how much practice hurt but I am going to remember how good it felt succeeding with my team.”

The cross-country meets are a memorable and intense experience. Mitchell said the runners love to participate in the meets not only because they are fun, but the atmosphere is euphoric, especially those at the bigger meets. . 

“[It] was really cool to be a part of,” Mitchell said.

On the women’s team, the experience is similar, and the runners are no strangers to cross country as they have experience in the sport since high school. 

Nancy Martinez-Maldonado, a freshman majoring in  Elementary Education/ Bilingual K-6 Mathematics expressed her passion for the sport. 

“I found more passion in running long distances,” Maldonado said. “I decided to go to Kean and was a bit disappointed knowing they didn’t have track or cross country.” Maldonado said when she found out Kean was having a cross country team this semester, she knew she wanted to join as she was eager to continue running and improving her skills.

Cross country practices consist of a lot of drills and running so the runners can perform well at the meets, even waking up early in the morning adding to the grind of excelling at cross country. 

“Coach Todman usually has everyone warm up doing drills together as a team,” Maldonado said. “After that, we begin our actual practice workout, which is divided into two groups; one is the long distance, and the other is the short distance.”

Waking up early in the morning can be a tough task and takes some getting used to, especially for student-athletes. The end, the early practices benefit the runners when it is time to compete.  

Maldonado said as a commuter, waking up at 6 a.m. for practice is a hard task especially knowing that her training may include a hard and painful workout. 

“While people are out sleeping in the morning, we are making history during that morning practice to improve,” Maldonado said. “I’m glad to have stumbled into the cross-country team and meet talented runners like my teammates”

 I love running and feel a sense of success when I improve my time running, “Maldonado said. “Plus, all the teammates are great motivators for me to continue running because we are all in the same shoes trying to get better and fighting through the obstacles.”

The team usually meets on Saturdays and during the week they would have “light days” where they would not run a lot, that is “so everyone is light of their feet to run during the meet,” Maldonado said. 

The team also has yoga twice each week to assist them in loosening up and releasing stress. They do yoga to stretch their bodies and aid in the healing process in preparation for their next meet.  

Eating right is also an important part of staying fit and motivated to run long distances as you have more energy by drinking a lot of water and eating a lot of protein. Maldonado said the team encourage each other and to rid the team of any nervousness and reminds each other to drink lots of water and protein. 

Everybody’s experience on the cross-country team is different but Todman makes sure her runners have fun along with being pushed to their limits as she believes in everyone she is coaching. 

“Being on the cross-country team was a different experience than high school, yet I had so much fun being part of the team,” Maldonado said. “Even when Coach Todman pushed us to our limits, she did it because she believed in each individual and knew we were capable.”

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