Senior Janet Jesang had just won her second straight individual title at the Sun Belt Conference Championships, but you wouldn’t have known it from talking to her.

Jesang would only praise her teammates after the race.

“I could not have run without the rest of my teammates,” Jesang said. “We run as a team. We depend on each other. Without one of us, there is no way we could win.”

The Lady Toppers won their fourth straight conference championship with a score of 53, defeating second-place Middle Tennessee State by 12 points.

“Before the first mile, I looked back and saw only MTSU runners behind me,” Jesang said. “But when I finished, I looked back again and saw one of our girls, and I thought, ‘Oh yes, we are going to win today!’”

Jesang covered the flooded Selman Field course in Monroe, La. in 19 minutes, 9 seconds, and junior Marion Kandie finished second in 19:29.

Senior Eimear O’Brien, sophomore Michelle Finn and senior Ana Carenina also finished in the top 25 to secure the victory.

O’Brien, who has run with Jesang for the past three years, said her teammate is an inspiration and a major reason for the team’s success.

“When you’re in races with over 200 girls from the biggest colleges in the United States and you hear the commentator calling her name right up there with the best, it pushes us to work harder knowing she’s working hard up front,” O’Brien said.

Although Jesang is a three-time All-American, Carinena said success has not affected her modest personality.

“When you are running with her, you don’t feel like you are with such a high-caliber athlete because she is so down to earth,” Carinena said.

Assistant Head Coach Michelle Scott, who was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year after Saturday’s race, said she doesn’t even want to think about competing without Jesang next season.

“Everyone looks up to her, including me,” Scott said. “People are just in awe of her. She is almost like a goddess.”

In the men’s race, Western tied Troy for fifth place with 161 points. Senior Patrick Cheptoek finished in 26:57 and placed third individually, but no other Topper finished higher than 30th.

The teams will compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional in Louisville on Nov. 14, then travel to Terre Haute, Ind. for the NCAA championships on Nov. 23.

Senior runner Mark Bowers says his dedication to cross country is just like any other sport.

But as Bowers puts it, “We just happen to spend hours running half-naked through Bowling Green.”

Bowers, who started running in the seventh grade, said he runs six days a week, accumulating more than 65 miles. To him, nothing is more fun.

“If you are dedicated to school, you are going to spend hours studying,” he said. “If you are dedicated to football, you are going to spend hours on the field.”

Western opens its cross country season tomorrow with the Old Timers’ Classic at Kereiakes Park.

Curtiss Long, assistant coach and former track and cross-country head coach, said if you told the team to run 100 miles a week, it would run 100 miles a week.

“Some would run 120 miles a week,” he said. “They will work until they cannot run or walk anymore.”

This dedicated work ethic stretches from indoor track in the blistering summer months to the frigid temperatures of November. The runners have roughly three weeks off a year from training.

“We have to change what we eat and what activities we do during the day,” Bowers said. “It’s a lifestyle you have to live to be a distance runner. It all boils down to how much time you are willing to put into it.”

With races frequently taking place on Saturday mornings, Fridays mean having a pasta dinner at Fazoli’s, watching a movie and heading off to bed early. The sacrifices to be successful with the sport don’t end there.

“Sometimes I have to cut my run short so I can study for a test,” senior Patrick Jenkins said.

“I think I have pretty high expectations for myself, and it’s hard for me to figure out when to study and when to run.”

Jenkins said he hopes to attend medical school after graduation. He was named a third-team academic all-American by ESPN the Magazine last season and has maintained a 4.0 cumulative grade point average while at Western.

“I don’t think I could have gotten through my college career without running,” he said. “It’s a blessing to be able to do it.”

Including Jenkins, six of the top eight runners from last year’s Sun Belt Conference championship team are returning for this season’s opener tomorrow.

“When the bus leaves for competition, they want to be on it,” Long said. “They don’t ask you where, how, against whom, they want to be on it. They want a chance to compete. The most exciting day of the week is the day they get the chance to run against someone.”

The women’s 3.1-mile race will open the Old Timers’ Classic at 10 a.m., followed by the men’s 5-mile race at 10:45 a.m.