Cross Country in Morning, Football in Afternoon for this Alabama-bred Gator
Friday, September 19, 2014 | Cross Country
By R.J. Schaffer
GatorZone.com Writing Intern
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The two teams have played some of the biggest football games in the Southeastern Conference over the last 25 seasons, and Gator Nation will be decked out in orange and blue when Florida and Alabama renew their rivalry Saturday.
But there's one UF freshman whose loyalties will be tested.
Gators or the Crimson Tide?
Mac Macoy is slated for his first collegiate cross country meet Saturday morning when the Gators host the Mountain Dew Invitational on an 8k course that will weave through the Mark Bostick Golf Course. Aside from the trail he runs in the morning, Macoy will have some tough spots to navigate later in the day when his heritage as a lifetime Crimson Tide fan is tested in the middle of Gator country.
“My family is big-time Crimson Tide fans -- and I was too -- but it was a little more important to me to go somewhere that had a great track program,” Macoy said. “My household is definitely rooting for Alabama. My parents are coming down for the [cross country] meet and we'll go watch the game together. My dad is going to be rooting for Alabama. My mom said she might root for Florida because she didn't even go to Alabama.”
In the warm-up event to the football game, Macoy's parents will be among those out at the golf course to see what the Southeastern Conference and beyond holds for the two-time Alabama Class 6A cross country individual state title winner and 2013 Alabama Gatorade Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.
The path he took to get here wasn't a straight-line one.
Before Macoy ever thought about dawning a track uniform, he had to find out what his calling in sports would be. He was slated to go out for his seventh-grade golf team before the stomach flu the day of tryouts prevented him from making it out.
The failed golf experiment led him to running, a sport that did not require him to try out for the team.
They say things happen for a reason, and the Gators are happy Macoy switched to the same sport both of his parents competed in.
He joins a Florida squad that is coming off a second-place finish at the 2013 SEC Championships, though the team struggled to a 29th finish at the NCAA Championships. Making an impact on a squad that returns All-SEC runners in seniors Jimmy Clark and Eddie Garcia won't be a cake walk, but Macoy has plenty of reasons to be confident.
Like his bloodlines.
Coy Macoy, his father, won a state title at Vestavia Hills High in 1981. He helps his son by standing in quiet areas during races and yelling out splits and offering tips on the fly. His mother, Adrienne, ran at UAB, so that marks double the parental XC knowledge.
Macoy said the reason for leaving his native state to come to Florida was because there was no other program in the south that offered what the Gators did. He said the biggest changes so far in making the jump to collegiate sports the strength work the team does now.
He has been setback by various injuries, the most recent a stress fracture that came about in the summer, but he resumed heavy training in July and August and is back to running about 10-12 miles daily.
Prep runners compete on 5k courses (or 3.1 miles), so his Saturday spin not only will mark his first college competition, but also a go on an 8K track (or 4.9 miles).
“I really just want to get back to training really hard and get back to the level I was at my senior year before I got injured,” Macoy said. “I'm really working with the coaches. I want to be able to contribute this fall, but if I end up not doing that, I think if I keep with it I can run really fast times in the spring.”
Macoy will have plenty of time to catch the football game. The Mountain Dew meet, UF's lone hosted event of the cross country season and featuring 29 women's team and 27 men's teams, starts at 7:45 a.m.
Kickoff is 3:30 p.m., in Tuscaloosa, Ala., about 50 miles from Vestavia Hills.
So, will he stick to his roots or is he slowly converting to his new home?
“I'm a little torn,” Macoy said with a smile. “But I'll be pulling for the Gators.”
