Cross Country First-Years Mulholland and Seebon Earn A-10 Honors

Breaking into the Atlantic-10 cross country scene are Loyola’s Cael Mulholland and Eileen Seebon. Both were awarded Atlantic-10 Freshman of the Week honors for their individual performances in the National Catholic Invitational hosted by Notre Dame University last week Sept. 19. 

The instant impact of the two first-year runners hasn’t gone unnoticed. Both performances helped the men’s and women’s teams to a second place finish in the competition. Mulholland and Seebon also clocked personal bests in their respective races in South Bend. Just over a week later, Seebon broke her record again at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational, which was hosted by Loyola.

Mulholland clocked in a personal best of 24:50 and finished 11th place overall in the men’s 5-mile race, while Seebon ran her personal best of 18:08 and finished 17th overall in the women’s 5K. Both performances were big for the team and for their personal experiences.

Mulholland, a native of Adelaide, Australia, discussed his motivations as well as his drive for wanting to run in such a competitive league like the A-10. 

“I’m not gonna travel halfway across the world and not try my hardest,” Mulholland said. “This is gonna be the next four years of my life, and I’m gonna try to put as much effort in as I can and represent.”

Seebon, who is originally from Thuringia, Germany, said having fun is her main motivator. She said running with the team also helps boost her drive to succeed.

They both said joining Loyola cross country brought out a new culture of college sports as well as an international culture shock. 

“It’s been as smooth as we could have hoped, really,” Mulholland said. “My coach from back home worked really closely with the coaches here, and it’s been a smooth transition. Big culture shock really moving halfway across the world, but the coaches and team have been great. When running is good, life’s good.” 

His excitement from being able to compete in the World Cross Country Championships back in February has translated into this new challenge of running in a new bracket of competition in Chicago. 

“My past goal for the last two years was to race the world cross country champs and it was a big goal of mine and to represent Australia was a big goal for me,” Mulholland said. “I’m here now, and I’ve got so many high-quality racers around the corner and being here gives me the chance to mix it in with the big boys in terms of racing and see what I can do.” 

Seebon echoed the same sentiment when talking about integrating herself into the team and handling the changes college athletics brings.

“It’s been really good,” Seebon said. “Of course, at first it was a big change but in general, it was really good. Also, with practice and being with the team have been really great also. Before the meet, we go to the place we are competing at to see the path and warmup as a group, and it’s really nice and helps us get into the vibe to race.”

Catch the Ramblers cross country team back in action on Oct. 13 at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin.

Featured image by Holden Green | The Phoenix