Trip to ‘middle of nowhere’ bonded Temple men’s cross-country team during lost season

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Temple to shift to virtual classes and postpone its seasons for Olympic sports last year, the men’s cross-country team organized a spontaneous two-month team trip to Red Lodge, Mont.

“It was kind of a quick turnaround. We were just like, ‘All right, we’re gonna send [the plans],’” freshman Zack Marmol said. “And I think as a group we were surprised how quickly it was accepted by the parents [and coaches].

“We were 18-year-old freshmen in college. You usually ease into college. … We just picked up and flew across the country to some cabin in the middle of nowhere.”

A postponed season gave the Owls the opportunity to travel 2,000 miles in September 2020 to forge a strong team dynamic with an almost entirely new roster that they believe has translated onto the course this season, which continues Saturday at the Princeton Invitational.

All but two members of the team — nine freshmen and three upperclassmen — stayed in Red Lodge, a ski town of about 2,200 people. They split up between two houses less than a mile apart. It was a tight squeeze, forcing teammates to share beds. There was one small kitchen and one refrigerator to fit enough food to feed a team of college guys.

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Coach James Snyder sent weekly training schedules along with organizing a Zoom meeting to talk through specific workouts.

The team got into a consistent training regimen, usually getting out the door by 7 a.m. for runs. Mondays and Thursdays consisted of lifting. Some got memberships to a local gym while others opted for body-weight workouts and using rocks from the front yard as weights.

They frequented the “Airport Loop,” a three-mile run that was half-gravel and half-pavement. Other times they drove further to hills or dirt roads with a backdrop of breathtaking views.

But the trip did have its hardships, which Marmol and fellow freshman Christian Fitch believe aided the chemistry-building.

On a 16-mile progression run early in the trip, Marmol fell behind. Kristian Jensen, the only senior, was calling for him to catch up to the group. As Marmol kicked his way forward, he felt a pop in his calf.

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Marmol was diagnosed with insertional hamstring tendinitis, with a recovery time of six to eight weeks.

After six weeks, he started pushing himself to do a three-mile run, but the pain persisted and he hobbled his way through the workout. After the trip, he got an MRI exam back home in Pittsburgh and discovered he had spent almost the entire trip with a clean break in his tibia.

“I played [freshman Josh Christianson] in one-on-one basketball outside the elementary school,” Marmol said. “... I beat him [with a broken tibia], so Josh always has to hear that from me.”

Through it all, Jensen held everyone accountable.

“Having him out there with them in kind of a captain’s role and almost an extension of our coaching staff put my mind at ease a little bit more,” Snyder said. “Because he knew how to train this way and was familiar with our program, having lived through it for three years.”

Jensen was taking graduate courses in neuroscience at the time, and with the season getting canceled it would have been easy for him to skip the trip to finish his degree.

“That man had us on a real schedule out there,” Fitch said. “But he was on that schedule himself, so if you were living with him, you also fell right in line.”

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Marmol made his collegiate debut at the season-opening Temple Invitational on Sept. 3, but has been limited in his participation as he fully recovers from December surgery. At the Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 1, Fitch was one of two top-100 finishers for the Owls.

Snyder preaches to his players the importance of leaving the cross-country program better than how they found it. Before Jensen graduated in May, Montana was his chance to pass on everything he had learned over the last four years to the freshmen while making the best of an otherwise complicated time.

“There’s nothing that’s going to get thrown at us that’s going to faze us,” Fitch said. “I really think we’re prepared for just about anything. If anything, the structure we have now of a normal season is going to feel more manageable.”