Spotlight, Erica Hanlon: Full Circle Season

Worcester, MA- Erica Hanlon, from Shrewsbury, Mass., will be leading the Worcester State University cross-country team as a senior captain this weekend when they head to the New England Regional at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. “I’m excited for it,” Hanlon told me. “I haven’t been back to the regional in Maine since my freshman year, so it’s cool to finish there. Full circle.” 

Hanlon has been a mainstay on the cross-country team throughout her time here at Worcester State, and she has also been a key piece of both the indoor and outdoor track teams making her a truly fantastic example of a student-athlete. Seldom is it more apparent how much sacrifice is included in partaking in college athletics than when looking at someone without an offseason. “It’s hard because you never have times where you have free blocks of time,” Hanlon explains. 

However, she has not let the athletic schedule get in the way of academic success. A psychology major, Hanlon has put herself in a position to close out her college career with a fourth year she is more than ready for. “I wanna wrap it up and put in the best I can, and take advantage of it,” Hanlon has determined. “It’s my last year competing.” 

This final year is a little different than years prior, as “last year there were a lot of us who were juniors and seniors.” Now, Hanlon has taken up a huge leadership role on a team made up of more than half first-years. In Erica’s words, “It’s a very young and fresh team.” While the team may be young, there is no reason to believe that they’re lacking in competitiveness. Hanlon explains, “We have a pretty solid group of us who are within a good amount of time to each other, so every race you don’t know who’s gonna come in where. It’s nice. It makes us more competitive.” 

Erica Hanlon and the Lancers will head up to Maine for regionals to close out their cross-country season, and look to send a few runners onto the NCAA Championship. But Hanlon will not be done yet as looks forward to the indoor and outdoor track season to close out her college career this winter and spring.

by Chris Wright