International Bulldogs unite to help teammate at Winston-Salem meet

By Andrea Maldini

Triangle Contributing Writer

A group of international student-athletes on the Wingate track and field team came together to help a teammate achieve her goal in a display of true sportsmanship and camaraderie on Feb. 22.

At the Last Chance Meet at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, sophomore French distance runner Manon Cady sought to break a time of 18:30 in the 5,000 meters in order to qualify for a fast heat at the South Atlantic Conference Indoor Meet on March 1. With no other entries in her event, Cady was supposed to run alone, which would have likely hurt her time, but her international teammates stepped in to give her some company.  

Instead of letting her try it on her own, Cady’s fellow countrywoman Hoyane Esper and Spaniards Lara Catano Falzoni and Dounia Routbi—all quarter-mile specialists—devised a strategy of pacing Cady through different sections of the race.  

Falzoni led the first 1,500 meters, setting a strong pace before stepping off. Then, Routbi took over, pushing through four more laps before handing over to Esper, who kept pacing until the 2,000-meters mark. Cady was then left to finish on her own, with her Bulldogs teammates cheering her on from the sidelines. She crossed the finish line in 18:24, a time that allowed her to achieve her goal. 

“I couldn’t have done it alone,” said Cady, a sophomore Biology major. “These girls joined their forces to help me, and I am so grateful for being part of this international family of a team. Even though we all come from different countries, we are all united by the love for our sport.” 

A week later, Cady went on to improve that time by six seconds (18:16) while finishing 10th of 25 runners in the 5,000-meter finals at the same track in Winston-Salem for the SAC Indoor Championships. Esper, a junior Marketing major, finished seventh there in the 400 meters.

“Even if track looks like an individual sport, it is not at all, and today we proved it,” said sophomore Falzoni.

Routbi, a junior Biology and Medical Sciences major, continues her indoor season March 13-15 at the NCAA Division 2 National Championships in Indianapolis, where she will be a part of Wingate’s eighth-seeded Distance Medley Relay team.