Mission Statement
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The Cross Country, Track, and Field Club at UC Davis is a student-run organization that aims to create a team and community of student-athletes, accessible to both undergraduate and graduate students. Our mission is to encourage a supportive atmosphere where students create opportunities for competition, social gathering, and community involvement. As part of the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association, we aim to offer a competitive alternative to Division I Athletics at UC Davis, as well as opportunities for racing alternative events, such as marathons. As a campus sport club, we aim to be part of a healthy, active student lifestyle and to support athletes of all abilities, backgrounds, cultures, and identities. On and off campus, we will represent the best of UC Davis.
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About the Club
The XCTF club has become a supportive place for all runners in its short, nine-year history. In college, volunteer sports are an integral part of keeping a happy and balanced life. The XCTF club, a volunteer organization, is based on the European sport club model, which is structured to include opportunities for all levels of athletes, including highly competitive squads training for serious events, up-and-coming athletes looking to enter the competitive stage, and social fitness folks who just want friends to run with. All athletes in the club run together and support each other in reaching their goals; there are no "cliques" here. More competitive athletes will find a committed and talented team who train up to seven days per week and between 40 and 80 miles per week, depending on the person, as well as ample opportunities for racing in competitive events in every season. Less competitive athletes will find a supportive and socially active group of friends who train between 10 and 40 miles per week, depending on the person, as well as many opportunities for racing in fun events year-round. The student and volunteer coaches will form training plans for any athletes interested in following a regimen or incorporating new components to their workout schedule.
As a sport club, rather than a Division 1 team, our athletes don't have the pressure of a UC Athletics contract in lieu of their intense academic work. Instead, our members find that coming to practices, races, and social events is a welcome and healthy reprieve from their academics. As one of the few truly co-ed sport organizations on campus, and one of the oldest and most universal sports on the planet, athletes of all identities find the XCTF club to be a welcoming atmosphere to mingle with people from other parts of campus and an ideal balance of individual work and teamwork.
Officially, the XCTF club is a sanctioned UC Davis Sport Club, as well as a Pacific Region team of the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association (NIRCA), which is the club equivalent of the NCAA. In cross country season, we race in numerous regional invites, leading up to the NIRCA Pacific Regionals meet, during which we aim to qualify for the NIRCA National Championships meet. Over the years, we have become champions in invites, the Regionals meet, and the Nationals meet. After cross country season, we train for winter races, which include a variety of distances, from 5K/10K to half marathons, marathons, and more. Sprinters and jumpers train year-round but begin increasing event-specific load in December in order to peak for the spring track season (there is no real indoor/winter track season in California, but we have attended indoor meets out-of-state). In spring track/field season, we race numerous regional and out-of-state invites and are planning to attend for the first time the NIRCA Track and Field Nationals in April, 2023, which includes a street half marathon. In summer, most athletes conduct base training and take a break from serious racing. For example, the more competitive distance athletes increase mileage and conduct more workouts off the track, while less competitive athletes take the opportunity to cross-train or enjoy summer sports. See our Training and Racing tabs for more information.
The XCTF club has access to the UC Davis Sport Club athletic trainer (AT), located in the ARC. The AT can provide physical therapy exercises for injured sport club athletes, free of charge. At practice and events, four club officers trained in CPR/AED/First Aid for athletes handle any immediate medical issues.
As a sport club, rather than a Division 1 team, our athletes don't have the pressure of a UC Athletics contract in lieu of their intense academic work. Instead, our members find that coming to practices, races, and social events is a welcome and healthy reprieve from their academics. As one of the few truly co-ed sport organizations on campus, and one of the oldest and most universal sports on the planet, athletes of all identities find the XCTF club to be a welcoming atmosphere to mingle with people from other parts of campus and an ideal balance of individual work and teamwork.
Officially, the XCTF club is a sanctioned UC Davis Sport Club, as well as a Pacific Region team of the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association (NIRCA), which is the club equivalent of the NCAA. In cross country season, we race in numerous regional invites, leading up to the NIRCA Pacific Regionals meet, during which we aim to qualify for the NIRCA National Championships meet. Over the years, we have become champions in invites, the Regionals meet, and the Nationals meet. After cross country season, we train for winter races, which include a variety of distances, from 5K/10K to half marathons, marathons, and more. Sprinters and jumpers train year-round but begin increasing event-specific load in December in order to peak for the spring track season (there is no real indoor/winter track season in California, but we have attended indoor meets out-of-state). In spring track/field season, we race numerous regional and out-of-state invites and are planning to attend for the first time the NIRCA Track and Field Nationals in April, 2023, which includes a street half marathon. In summer, most athletes conduct base training and take a break from serious racing. For example, the more competitive distance athletes increase mileage and conduct more workouts off the track, while less competitive athletes take the opportunity to cross-train or enjoy summer sports. See our Training and Racing tabs for more information.
The XCTF club has access to the UC Davis Sport Club athletic trainer (AT), located in the ARC. The AT can provide physical therapy exercises for injured sport club athletes, free of charge. At practice and events, four club officers trained in CPR/AED/First Aid for athletes handle any immediate medical issues.
History of the UCDXCTF Club
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The XCTF club was founded in Fall of 2014 by then-sophomores Nathan Kwan (now volunteer head coach), Blake Zufall, Eric Jones, and Jon Horvath (collectively, the Distance Dudes) as a competitive long-distance club team. At the small-but-mighty team’s first associated race, NIRCA Regionals, the men’s team cleaned house with a first-place finish and four All-Region athletes, and the women’s team--then too few to qualify as a team--pulled in exemplary individual finishes, including several All-Region awards. In 2015, the team came out in greater numbers and with more resolve, winning first in both men's and women's NIRCA Regionals races and clinching a spot at the National Championship meet. Two weeks later in Lexington, KY, the men’s team won Nationals gold and posted four All-Americans, and several in the women's team cinched All-American titles.....
Each year since, the XCTF club has placed numerous All-Region and National All-American athletes in both the men’s and women’s teams, as well as silver, bronze, and top-10 team standings at Nationals, and two individual National Champions. Outside of NIRCA, our athletes have run in numerous cross country and track/field invitationals during those seasons, and have filled in off-seasons with countless community races and marathons as individual and team representatives. Some of these events include: Cal All-Comers Meet Mike Fanelli Track Classic Kim Duyst Invitational Warriors Last Chance Meet Aggie Invitational SacTown 10-Miler Johnny Mathis Invitational Chico Distance Carnival Avenue of the Giants Marathon Events Redding Marathon Events California International Marathon Bay to Breakers Santa Rosa Marathon Surf City Marathon Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Events Tahoe Ragnar Endurance Challenge USATF Pacific Cross Country Championships |
Art credit to Chris Myers
The finish line on the eve of the famed 2015 NIRCA Nationals meet in Lexington, KY.
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