Featured
The stakes are especially high for Hassman, who on Friday aims to help the women’s team to advance to the NCAA national championships for the first time.
Both admit to feeling sentimental about the end of their Northeastern careers. But their nostalgia is trampled by the opportunities that cross country stars Abigail Hassman and Ben Godish will be pursuing Friday at the NCAA Northeastern Regionals in Hopkinton, New Hampshire.
The two Huskies are riding the momentum of exceptional performances at the CAA championships Nov. 1 in Elon, North Carolina, where Hassman won a record-setting third straight individual conference title and Godish was men’s champion for the second year in a row.
Both are seeking top-tier performances in Hopkinton that will advance them individually to the NCAA cross country national championships — while also visualizing team goals. The young men’s team is aiming for a third straight top-10 finish at the regionals; the women are contending for a top-two result that would automatically qualify their team for nationals for the first time.
“We have a great opportunity in front of us,” says John Murray, who coaches the women’s cross country team at Northeastern. “I believe that this year we’ve prepared better than any other year and are more experienced than we ever have been.”
That confidence is embodied by Hassman, who holds five school records in cross country, outdoor and indoor distance events. After finishing among the top three for several years, Northeastern broke through for its first CAA team title around the efforts of Hassman (who remains the lone Husky to win the women’s conference title), Azza Borovicka-Swamson (fourth place), Ava Duggan (ninth), Lena Lebrun (13th) and Nicole Dunbury (17th) — all seniors or graduate students.
Hassman embodies the team’s focused approach.
“I feel like I’ve learned how to get mentally engaged but also stay calm,” Hassman says. “Finding that balance and that intensity when it needs to be there, but also just staying calm through all the pressure and the nerves before and during the race is an ongoing learning experience.
“It’s just such good advice that coach Murray instills in us — focus on your effort and the execution of the race plan, the execution of the day-to-day tasks. And that will help you more than if you’re focusing on the outcome from the start. I try to think about that each day and it has helped me a lot.”
“She’s one of the best distance runners in the United States,” Murray says of Hassman. “And she will continue to be one of the top distance runners at the professional level over the next 10 years.”
Instead of feeling burdened by the responsibilities of leadership, Hassman says her focus on teamwork alleviates pressure on her individually.
“It definitely helps knowing that you’re not alone in what you’re doing and that you’re doing it for a greater purpose than just yourself,” she says. “It takes the pressure off and keeps me motivated to try my best and stay on it during the race because I know if I do the best I can and trust that my teammates are doing the best they can, we can work towards accomplishing the team goals.”
She has applied a similar approach as president of Northeastern’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) while developing a partnership with the nonprofit Run Your City, which teams with collegiate athletes to make team sports accessible to kids in local communities.
“One of my big goals is putting things into action,” Hassman says of SAAC’s community engagement plans.
Hassman and Godish are competing at the highest level while on co-op. Hassman, who will graduate this spring in health science and psychology, is currently working at Northeastern’s mHealth Research Group on a three-year study of human movement behavior and sleep. Godish is a teaching assistant at the Kingsley Montessori School in Boston.
“It’s definitely rewarding,” says Godish, who is studying English and communication studies. “I will say it’s a little tiring working with kids all day. They’ve got a lot of energy.”
Godish, who was not heavily recruited, says he has exceeded expectations thanks to the individualized coaching of Matt Lonergan, who oversees men’s cross country at Northeastern.
“I use Ben as an example in speaking with prospective student-athletes,” says Lonergan, who credits Godish with consistently rising to the occasion. “I think he surprised himself but he also surprised us when he got here.”
Entering the final 2k loop at the CAA championships, Godish pulled away from Hofstra’s Abraham Longosiwa to win by more than 10 seconds.
“When Ben heard that the meet was very close and every point mattered, he accelerated and moved ahead for good,” says Lonergan, noting that Godish’s push enabled the Huskies to finish a single point behind CAA champion Stony Brook. “He’s always been the kind of guy where you put him on the line and then he goes to that competitive place in his mind and it takes over. He is very emotional when he runs and it doesn’t matter which race or who he’s racing against.”
Like Hassman, Godish is balancing his team’s goal of a top-10 finish with his personal ambitions. Disappointed by his performance last year at NCAA nationals, he has been aiming to finish his Northeastern career on a high note.
“That’s a little bit extra motivation for me,” he says, “to prove that [last year] wasn’t a fluke and that I can get back there again.”