Floyd continues historic pace
By Brett Hebel
[email protected]
Senior cross-country runner for Madonna University, Tony Floyd quickly became a household name back in 2016 as a freshman. Floyd took the collegiate cross-country world by storm, as he was placing first consistently and earning numerous honors. Now entering his senior campaign, Floyd is looking to go all out and have the most successful season the university has ever seen. Two weeks into his senior season, he has done just that.
Floyd and the Crusaders season kicked off on the Sept. 7 at the 33rd Running Fit-Detroit Mercy Titans Cross Country Invitational at Cass Benton Park. The team as a whole placed fourth, but as for Floyd, he grabbed the spotlight and took first place individually, with a 4-mile time of 20:29.3. Floyd clearly wanted to waste little time proving his dominance for his senior season.
After Floyd captured his first win of his senior campaign, he spent little time celebrating and had his sights set on meet number two.
The Crusaders second meet of the season was the Ray Bullock Invitational hosted by Taylor University at the TUXC Farm. Coming into the meet as the defending individual champion, Floyd had a target on his back. The other runners from the competing universities, wanted to take him down and get a taste of the individual title for themselves. However, Floyd was determined to not let that happen. Finishing the race with a time of 25:33.5, Floyd overcame the odds, capturing first place once again. Floyd won the event by a grand total of 18 seconds over Robert Murphy and averaged 5:09 per mile.
“It is surprising to be able to win a meet, let alone two in a row. At the collegiate level, there are so many good runners all over the place and you never know who you will race against, so to be able win multiple races in a season is pretty special,” said Floyd.
Floyd and the Crusaders took fourth as a team at the event, with their 1-5 runners finishing in a total time of 2:19:00.5 with a 27:48.1 average.
"On a hot day, the guys ran a tough race and competed at their best. Tony ran a controlled race and led from start to finish,” said head coach Patrick Daugherty.
Not only did Floyd’s success earn him back-to-back first place finishes, it also earned him Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Player/Runner of the Week. This marks the eighth time Floyd has received the WHAC Player/Runner of the Week award.
“Being the WHAC Runner of the Week is something I feel is important not only to myself, but also to the school. I think it gives the school another reason to appreciate what its student athletes are capable of and it gives us a little bit of bragging rights over the other conference schools for the week,” said Floyd.
Floyd clearly has lofty expectations for himself and his team, but that is because he enjoys pushing himself and he knows that the team and himself can achieve a high level of success. When it comes to confidence, determination, competitiveness, and dominance, Floyd takes the top of the list.
“As a team, I hope that we are able to qualify for nationals, just like we did a year ago. We lost some key people, but we had a solid freshmen class come in. Our team as a whole, has been battling injuries all season, but I am hoping by the time we race at conferences, we will be healthy and ready to all compete at 100%. As for myself, I want to be able to win a national championship. It has been a goal of mine for a couple years now,” said Floyd.
With the season underway, Floyd could not have scripted the first two meets to go any better for him. With a handful of meets to go, follow both Floyd and his team to see just how those meets go and if Floyd will reach his goals.
To stay up to date on the latest race results and team news, be sure to check out MUCrusaders.com and/or download the Madonna Athletics mobile app today.
[email protected]
Senior cross-country runner for Madonna University, Tony Floyd quickly became a household name back in 2016 as a freshman. Floyd took the collegiate cross-country world by storm, as he was placing first consistently and earning numerous honors. Now entering his senior campaign, Floyd is looking to go all out and have the most successful season the university has ever seen. Two weeks into his senior season, he has done just that.
Floyd and the Crusaders season kicked off on the Sept. 7 at the 33rd Running Fit-Detroit Mercy Titans Cross Country Invitational at Cass Benton Park. The team as a whole placed fourth, but as for Floyd, he grabbed the spotlight and took first place individually, with a 4-mile time of 20:29.3. Floyd clearly wanted to waste little time proving his dominance for his senior season.
After Floyd captured his first win of his senior campaign, he spent little time celebrating and had his sights set on meet number two.
The Crusaders second meet of the season was the Ray Bullock Invitational hosted by Taylor University at the TUXC Farm. Coming into the meet as the defending individual champion, Floyd had a target on his back. The other runners from the competing universities, wanted to take him down and get a taste of the individual title for themselves. However, Floyd was determined to not let that happen. Finishing the race with a time of 25:33.5, Floyd overcame the odds, capturing first place once again. Floyd won the event by a grand total of 18 seconds over Robert Murphy and averaged 5:09 per mile.
“It is surprising to be able to win a meet, let alone two in a row. At the collegiate level, there are so many good runners all over the place and you never know who you will race against, so to be able win multiple races in a season is pretty special,” said Floyd.
Floyd and the Crusaders took fourth as a team at the event, with their 1-5 runners finishing in a total time of 2:19:00.5 with a 27:48.1 average.
"On a hot day, the guys ran a tough race and competed at their best. Tony ran a controlled race and led from start to finish,” said head coach Patrick Daugherty.
Not only did Floyd’s success earn him back-to-back first place finishes, it also earned him Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Player/Runner of the Week. This marks the eighth time Floyd has received the WHAC Player/Runner of the Week award.
“Being the WHAC Runner of the Week is something I feel is important not only to myself, but also to the school. I think it gives the school another reason to appreciate what its student athletes are capable of and it gives us a little bit of bragging rights over the other conference schools for the week,” said Floyd.
Floyd clearly has lofty expectations for himself and his team, but that is because he enjoys pushing himself and he knows that the team and himself can achieve a high level of success. When it comes to confidence, determination, competitiveness, and dominance, Floyd takes the top of the list.
“As a team, I hope that we are able to qualify for nationals, just like we did a year ago. We lost some key people, but we had a solid freshmen class come in. Our team as a whole, has been battling injuries all season, but I am hoping by the time we race at conferences, we will be healthy and ready to all compete at 100%. As for myself, I want to be able to win a national championship. It has been a goal of mine for a couple years now,” said Floyd.
With the season underway, Floyd could not have scripted the first two meets to go any better for him. With a handful of meets to go, follow both Floyd and his team to see just how those meets go and if Floyd will reach his goals.
To stay up to date on the latest race results and team news, be sure to check out MUCrusaders.com and/or download the Madonna Athletics mobile app today.