Tri-County Early College alumna Sydney Bolyard running well as freshman for UNG Nighthawks
After losing the majority of her senior track and field season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sydney Bolyard had a extra bit of fire burning inside heading into her freshman cross country season with the University of North Georgia Nighthawks.
“I knew that I was excited to race and that all of the girls here were as well,” Bolyard said. “It was kind of an extra passion and fire that pushed us to work harder. So it definitely added some motivation.”
And so far, that extra motivation has been paying off for Bolyard, who is fitting right in with the Nighthawks program.
“Honestly, it has been a blessing to say the least,” Bolyard said of her time with the UNG program. “I have really enjoyed it and North Georgia has a wonderful team. I basically came into a group of girls that was just extremely supportive. But the transition overall has just been really enjoyable, and I’ve really enjoyed running at the collegiate level, training with a college coach and running with collegiate girls as well.”
The Tri-County Early College alumna has picked up where she left off with the UNG women’s cross country team, earning points with top-10 finishes in both of the Nighthawks’ two invitationals of the season.
In UNG’s season-opening meet at West Georgia University, Bolyard placed fifth overall with a time of 20:40, scoring valuable points that helped the Nighthawks place second out of the five competing teams.
The freshman followed up her impressive collegiate-debut with an eighth place (18:56) finish at the Eighth Annual UNG XC Invitational, once again scoring points to help the Nighthawks finish in second place among the field of nine teams.
Bolyard, who was consistently putting up some of the best times in western North Carolina during her time at Tri-County, said that she was not expecting to find immediate success at the collegiate-level.
“I definitely was not expecting it,” Bolyard said of her early success as a freshman. “I came in and there are a lot of really good girls here, I think the team is 22 girls, which is pretty large and very competitive. Our coach told us maybe two or three weeks ago that the Peach Belt Conference is only allowing 10-12 girls to travel to each meet so I was kind of like, ‘Well, if I want a spot, I’m going to have to earn it and if I don’t get it, I’m going to be equally as happy for whoever does.’ But I’ve been trying to push through.”
Making the transition from high school to collegiate athletics can be difficult on its own, but when throwing in a lasting pandemic made the transition even more chaotic for Bolyard.
“When I first came in we actually weren’t allowed to have official practices, so the first three weeks of being here I was only allowed to train with my roommates. We actually would get sent the training plans and then we would do them on our own,” Bolyard said of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the start of her freshman season. “And that was a little difficult, just trying to hit the paces that we were supposed to. And it definitely was not what I expected, because I came in and was like, ‘Woo, team running,’ and then all the sudden it was just running with one other girl. It was very confusing and a couple girls actually did get COVID-19.”
The Nighthawks only have two invitationals remaining in the COVID-19 shortened college cross country season, including the Peach Belt Conference Championships, which Bolyard has her eyes set on.
“My goals are team goals, because we’re ranked in the PBC and last year, North Georgia finished second behind Flagler College, which also has a very coemptive team,” Bolyard said. “So coach is really motivating us to go for that conference championship. My goal, if I do potentially get to race, would be to help contribute to that overall goal of conference champions and beating the Flagler girls. It’s all about pushing.”