Greensburg Salem grad Joula Anderson embraces Waynesburg women's cross country's relaxed approach to season

The Waynesburg women’s cross country team entered the 2022 season as the six-time defending champion in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. But coach Chris Hardie and his team are taking a more relaxed approach this fall.

With significant graduation losses — the Yellow Jackets bid adieu to three of their top five runners — and a powerful Allegheny squad entering the PAC — the Gators have qualified for six consecutive NCAA championships — Hardie is releasing the pressure valve.

“We don’t expect to win the title,” said Hardie, making a refreshing break from the usual preseason optimism that is the hallmark of coaches everywhere. “We are enjoying sitting back and watching some other teams be up front. I think there’s no target on our back. We’ve won six in a row, so you think there would be.

“There’s this national powerhouse coming in, Allegheny, and they didn’t lose anybody. … I don’t know if there’s anybody in our conference who can run with them.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean Waynesburg is going to abdicate the throne without a fight, and one of the keys in the chase for No. 7 will be junior Joula Anderson. The Greensburg Salem grad finished 15th in the PAC championships last fall, earning second-team all-conference honors.

The Yellow Jackets’ fourth runner for much of last season, Anderson will make the leap to the front of the pack in the wake of the team’s graduation losses. She said she and her teammates are embracing the laid-back approach Hardie is selling.

“I feel like we feel a lot more relaxed, and we can enjoy practice a little more,” she said. “Not that we didn’t enjoy it before, but we can just have a bit more fun and just have a different attitude regarding this season.”

Anderson has been a member of each of the past two Yellow Jackets championship teams but not in a leading role. So to ensure she can perform up to the expectations of a top runner, she focused her offseason training on staying healthy, something she said she had issues with in the past.

Rather than run more miles, as runners are wont to do in training, she carefully calculated her workouts with the goal of gradually ramping up so she can be at her peak for PACs and regionals.

Hardie, for one, is confident in Anderson’s ability and said another all-conference honor — even with Allegheny joining the mix — is well within her reach.

“She’s always been in that top-20 discussion in the conference,” he said. “She should have a pretty good year. She’s a very hard worker, and she takes her summers very seriously. And as a distance runner, that’s kind of the backbone of what we do.”

Said Anderson: “I don’t think there is a concrete end goal for any of us. It’s just the idea of progression the entire time throughout until the very end.”

Allegheny was chosen by the conference coaches as the preseason favorite to win the PAC. Waynesburg was second in the poll, and Grove City (third) and W&J (fourth) also are expected to push the reigning champs.

So for the first time in a long time, the Waynesburg women enter cross country season as the underdog. That might seem like a slight or the proverbial slap in the face to a six-time champion, but the Yellow Jackets aren’t fazed by it.

Anderson said the team will relish its under-the-radar role. It’s a nice change, and without the burden of expectations, title No. 7 might be attainable.

“I think (a title) is a possibility,” Anderson said. “I’ve always been more a fan of the underdog mentality. Because I still feel like you can bring everything together in the end if you have all the right components, but it’s also a lot less up-front stress. You can have more fun and be more light-hearted about it and still get to that same end.”