Following the departure of former All-American Chirs Devaney, men’s cross country was without one of its star runners. Filling the void is first-year River Santiago — recently named A10 Rookie of the Week.
Following the departure of former All-American Chirs Devaney, men’s cross country was without one of its star runners. Filling the void is first-year River Santiago — recently named A10 Rookie of the Week.
Loyola’s cross country program faced a unique challenge heading into the 2024 season. Despite back-to-back Atlantic 10 championships and being ranked first in the A10 preseason coaches poll, since the program’s first time since entering the A10 in 2022 they’d be without their top runner — former All-American Chirs Devaney.
After Loyola’s first cross country invitational of the fall season, they have a new runner topping the podium.
In his first-ever collegiate event, first-year River Santiago finished in first place with a time of 15:01.3, besting his record from his days at Blaine High School by 27 seconds, and finishing 9.4 seconds faster than second place.
His performance caught the attention of the conference, who named him A10 Rookie of the Week.
Even Santiago was surprised by his opening performance leading to the honors, but said he’s not done yet.
“It was a pretty surprising experience knowing the competition in the conference,” Santiago said. “I’m so honored to have received it, and I know it’s gonna be difficult to be recognized again, but something that I’m gonna be working towards.“
Becoming a Rambler wasn’t at the top of Santiago’s list when he began his college search — Loyola was only a last-second option. With the search winding down, he decided to visit one more school before making his decision.
Following a series of meetings with the coaches and fellow athletes, Santiago said he realized the vision at Loyola was special and something he wanted to pursue. He would go on to commit to Loyola over the likes of the University of St. Thomas, the University of North Dakota and the University of South Dakota, only a few days after his visit.
A native of Blaine, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, Santiago said he experienced some big, but exciting changes in moving to Chicago.
“I love it here, I love the different communities, and people you meet.” Santiago said. “I mean some of my teammates are from Australia, Spain, France. Just learning and getting to experience other people’s culture and lifestyles.”
Santiago said he nearly missed out on running cross country. He took after his older brothers growing up, playing baseball, basketball and flag football.
When Santiago was in seventh grade, his dad, during one of his brother’s baseball games, met the cross country coach. After the two talked, his dad was convinced to sign Santiago up for the team.
When the news broke to Santiago, his initial reaction was “I’m not running every day for practice.” This mindset didn’t last, though, as he said he instantly fell in love with the sport, particularly to the team camaraderie and bonding.
After eighth grade, Santiago ended up switching schools from a small private school in Minnesota to Blaine High School, where he spent his time before coming to Loyola.
“I switched schools to go to a public school with a cross country team size with like 100 plus [athletes],” Santiago said. “I found out that, even switching schools, I ended up being the top runner that year. It was at that point where okay, I’m kind of at a position, I’m one of the top runners regardless of where I go and I wanted to take this to college.”
What stuck out about Loyola’s team was the challenge of earning a spot as a first-year on a team as strong as Loyola’s, and the impact of his fellow athletes working together to build him up, according to Santiago.
Despite his love for cross country, Santiago said having the mental fortitude for the entire season can be difficult.
“Racing is draining, psychologically, you gotta be 100% to compete,” Santiago said. “You gotta be healthy, you gotta be in shape when you toe that line, and trying to achieve that path to your shape every time you toe the line is just kind of draining sometimes.”
The good far outweighs the bad for Santiago, though, and he said he loves the team aspect of being around like-minded athletes trying to achieve the same thing. This teamwork, Santiago explained, helps him deal with the more difficult parts of running cross country.
Santiago has now set his mind on the upcoming Notre Dame National Catholic Championships Sept. 20. Despite knowing he can’t expect to finish first in every race, he said his continued goal is to conclude every race knowing he gave it his all and never come away thinking he could’ve done more.
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