By Scott Doane
UWRF Sports Information

At times, cross country can become a painful sport.

After running for a while, muscles can tense up and start to hurt. Every breath taken can become more and more painful. Sometimes it's hard to think positively when hitting the wall and just trying to cross the finish line.

That's what Falcon senior Erica Berrisford is able to do very well.   Her positive attitude keeps the rest of the team thinking of a conference title.

"Erica brings a good attitude to the team," Falcon Coach Don Glover said about Berrisford. "She's always cheerful and has a smile on her face."

How can someone stay happy and cheerful while running for miles and their body is breaking down?   Berrisford does it by remembering to just have fun.

"When you chose to be in a sport, you should have fun with it," Berrisford said. "You shouldn't be crabby all the time or be upset. You should enjoy it because you chose it for a reason."

When Berrisford cheers on her team, it doesn't just help the team. It also helps her make it to the finish line.

"I cheer for everyone because it makes me feel better," Berrisford said. If I tell everyone, 'Come on we only have one more left', I'm reassuring myself that we only have one more left."

Berrisford doesn't just bring a positive attitude to the team. She also acts as a mentor to some of the freshmen on the team.

"She helps the younger kids as much as she can," Glover said about the senior.

She has contributed the success of the team to some of the freshmen.

"We have a lot of good incoming freshmen," Berrisford said. "They have a lot of talent and I hope they stay with it for the rest of their seasons of eligibility. They are carrying our team right now."

Berrisford is originally from Centerville, Minn. She attended Centennial High School, where her cross country team won its first ever conference championship in school history. She has been running since seventh grade. She started cross country to stay in shape and because, she claims, that she didn't have the coordination to play other sports.

"I didn't have coordination skills to play basketball, softball or anything like that," Berrisford said about starting cross country in high school. "I went to running because running doesn't take that much coordination."

After starting in seventh grade, she ran all through high school. She spent one year at the UM-Duluth where she ran her freshman year. She said that she didn't really enjoy her time at UM-D.   That's how she ended up at UW-River Falls.

"I didn't like UM-D," Berrisford said, "I didn't like the school or the teachers there."

Berrisford talked about some of her classes at UM-D and how she had a difficult time with them. She said her chemistry teacher there was French-American and had some trouble with English, and her teaching assistant was Jamaican. In one of her math class, the teacher was Arabian and didn't speak English well either. In two of her most important classes, she had teachers that didn't speak great English. This was one reason she transferred to River Falls.

Another reason she came to River Falls was her major, health and human performance option two.   She had heard good things about the program at UW-River Falls.

"I had friends here," she said about UW-River Falls, "and I heard nothing but good things about the health & human performance program."

Berrisford is in option two. Option one and three are for teaching, option two is more for working in a health club or at a hospital wellness center. Berrisford will be graduating in December. When she graduates, she doesn't know what she's going to do right away. Currently she is the manager at Snap Fitness in River Falls. She is also taking classes to become a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, which finishes in December.   

In her spare time, Berrisford likes to walk her dog. She owns a German short-haired pointer, which she says is very hyper. She walks her dog two or three times a day for an hour each time. She also likes to hang out with her friends and with the cross country team. She leads a very busy life and doesn't have much free time. When she does have relaxation time, she usually just watches television.

Berrisford has run in all of the events for the women's cross country team this year. Her best time this year was at the St. Olaf Invitational. She finished the 6,000-meter race with a time of 27:02. Her best time ever came at last year's NCAA Regional in Davenport, Iowa. She finished with a time of 24:46.  

When asked about how the women's team has done this season, Berrisford's positive attitude stood out.

"I think we've made a lot of good stepping stones to continue to have a good year."