Bolyard finishes seventh at Peacebelt XC Championships, named Peach Belt All-Conference as freshman runner
Gainesville, Ga. – The moment Sydney Bolyard crossed the finish line at the Peach Belt XC Championships in seventh place, she didn’t take a second to catch her breathe or celebrate yet another top-ten finish as a freshman.
Bolyard, a Tri-County Early College alumna, immediately turned around and began cheering on the group of her teammates that had been trailing behind her, shouting them across the finish line.
As the race whittled down to the last few runners, the Nighthawks circled up around the finish line, nervously awaiting the calculations of the team scores.
They knew they had been right on the heels of Flagler College, who narrowly defeated UNG at the Peach Belt XC Preview by just three points.
As it turned out, the Nighthawks were as close on the heels of Flagler College as you could get, with the rival programs tying at 49 points a piece.
The tiebreaker, which had never been used in the more than 30 years that the Peach Belt Conference has been holding women’s cross country championships, came down to the finishing positions of each team’s scoring runners, which ended up giving Flagler College the slight edge.
But for Bolyard and the Nighthawks, a young team brimming with talent, pushing Flagler College to a tie-breaker to finish the season was still an accomplishment to be proud of.
“When we finished, everyone was just running back-and-forth like, ‘Did we get it? Did we get it?’ And when we figured out that we got second, I think that it was more of a feeling of accomplishment than discouragement,” Bolyard said of the tie-breaker result. “We knew how close it was and how hard we worked. We really gave them a run for their money and at the end of the day, we gave it our best go and we’re really proud of each other. That’s what matters.”
In a freshman campaign shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bolyard picked up where she left off at Tri-County, placing top-10 at each of the Nighthawks’ four meets held this year.
“It’s definitely been crazy, but I don’t think that I could have asked for anything more,” Bolyard said of having a chaotic end to a freshman year of collegiate cross country heavily impacted by the pandemic.
“It was a cut-short season, lot of restrictions and a lot of unknowns. But I think that everything played out really well and I’m really grateful for this team. Being on this team and being able to race, especially this year, I’m really grateful for this year and excited for the next.”
Under normal circumstances, Bolyard and the Nighthawks would be qualified for the NCAA Southeast Regional meet, where UNG placed fifth last season, but NCAA canceled the meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think compared to other conferences, we’re just happy that we had the chance to race at all,” Bolyard said of the cancelation of the regional meet. “If we could’ve only had one race, that would’ve been more than we could’ve asked for. So the fact that we got to come here and race at a conference meet with everyone from the Peach Belt and succeed and perform is enough in itself.”
Now Bolyard turns her attention to winter training for the spring season, when she’ll compete as a distance runner for the Nighthawks’ women’s track and field program.
“Once in a life, it was just so much fun,” Bolyard said when asked to describe the experience of her first year as a collegiate cross country runner. “It was such a wonderful opportunity and so much fun. I love running and that’s something that our coaches have emphasized from the beginning, ‘You’re here because you love to run and because it’s fun for you. Everyone can tell you how to run and what to do, but ultimately it’s up to us to perform.’ I love running, I love this team and I love this school – North Georgia is just an amazing university and I would tell literally anyone to choose UNG. This year has been such a cool opportunity and I couldn’t be more grateful to have had it with this team.”