After a redshirt year at Florida and a long battle with an eating disorder,  Angelina Perez  made a powerful comeback — both on and off the running course. Now competing for Wake Forest, she opens up about rebuilding confidence, rediscovering joy in running, and creating a new version of herself in this inspiring episode of  Beyond The Stride. 🎙️  Topics: Overcoming injury and eating disorder recovery Transition from Florida to Wake Forest Mental health and self-identity in running Building confidence after setbacks Finding purpose beyond performance Goals for the rest of the season and chasing All-American status 💬 Watch the full episode to hear Angelina’s powerful story of resilience, self-growth, and rediscovery through running. Be sure to like/follow/subscribe/comment on all of podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube! You can find our other episodes there as well.

Production via Wyatt Barnsley On this week’s episode of The Stride Report Podcast, Ben and Garrett break down a chaotic weekend of racing! The guys analyze Wisconsin’s team victory at the Loyola Lakefront Classic as well as North Carolina’s disappointing 5th place finish and Washington’s surprising 8th place result on the men’s side. The women’s race was headlined by NC State’s short-handed win while Northwestern delivered a stunning runner-up performance! Then, it’s over to the Paul Short Run where Georgetown’s men took the win, Harvard held their own despite missing key names, and Villanova’s lethal top-three women carried them to victory. Tune in for analysis, surprises, and what these results mean for the NCAA landscape moving forward. Be sure to listen, subscribe and review! (3:31) Wisconsin Men Take Win at Loyola Lakefront Classic (14:23) Disappointing 5th Place Finish for North Carolina  (17:54) Washington Men Finish 8th at Loyola Lakefront Classic (21:04) NC State Women Pull Off Win at Loyola Lakefront Classic (25:17) Northwestern Women Produce 2nd Place Finish at Loyola Lakefront Classic (36:09) Georgetown Men Take Down Utah State and Texas A&M at Paul Short (43:19) Harvard Men Finish 4th at Paul Short Without Key Names (45:16) Villanova Women Ride Lethal Top-Three Over Penn State at Paul Short You can listen to that episode (and others) on our PODCASTS  page! You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Soundcloud. If you like it, be sure to leave us a rating  and a review ! Note: If you're having issues loading the episode on the site via mobile, try refreshing  the episode page. We will look into this issue for future episodes.

The Stride Report is thrilled to announce that, for the second-straight year, we will be streaming this year's rendition of the Lewis XC Crossover! The stream will begin around 9:40am (CST) on Saturday, October 11th. The men's and women's races will begin at the following times... Women’s 6k @ 9:45 AM (CST) Men’s 8k @ 10:30AM (CST) The stream, which can be found on our YouTube page , will feature live commentary for both the men's and the women's "championship" races. No "Open" races are being contested at the Lewis XC Crossover this year. Photos and post-race interviews will also be collected. The Lewis XC Crossover has evolved into one of the single-most competitive D2 cross country meets in the entire nation. Occasionally dubbed as the "D2 Nuttycombe," this year's field will again be loaded with top-tier programs. Be sure to set a reminder for Saturday morning to tune into the stream on our YouTube channel ! A big thank you to Coach James Kearney and John Kilpatrick for their assistance in making this possible.

Written by Kevin Fischer, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin Last Monday, on September 29th, United States senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement (SAFE Act) . Senator Cantwell wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the newly proposed bill would, " create first-ever federal student athlete rights & protections, level the competitive playing field for all schools, support women's & Olympic sports, and allow schools to pool media rights to maximize revenue." The SAFE Act would rewrite the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. Doing so would allow the pooling of media rights, with the stated goal of "maximiz[ing] revenue for all schools and conferences." Currently, conferences sell media rights separately, with major conferences receiving the most lucrative deals. The bill would also require universities to allot the same number of scholarships to women's sports and non-revenue generating sports as they did during the 2023-24 academic year. Among the provisions would be a reworking of the NCAA's transfer portal as well as name, image, and likeness (NIL) collectives. Under this bill, student athletes would be able to transfer up to twice without sitting out of competition for a year. The bill would also prohibit NIL endorsements that are not for a, "valid business purpose," similar to the language used by the newly created College Sports Commision (CSC) . The SAFE Act was presented as an alternative to the S CORE Act , which is still pending a vote in the House of Representatives. Senators Cantwell, Booker and Blumenthal have been vocal opponents of that bill. A coalition of 10 Division One conferences, which had previously been critical of the SCORE Act, wrote a joint letter voicing their support after the language in the bill was reworked. The Athletic's Ralph D. Russo notes that, with this development, every conference in Division One appears to back the previously reported on SCORE Act. Even so, momentum for the SCORE Act in the House of Representative has stalled, and the SAFE Act provides an alternative that Cantwell says would give all schools, "a fair shake". However, much like the SCORE Act, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reports that there will be challenges for the passage of the bill, given that it has yet to receive bipartisan support.

Written by Kevin Fischer, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin The University of North Alabama has announced that they will begin sponsoring men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field starting in 2026, along with women's flag football. North Alabama, an NCAA Division One school that resides in the ASUN Conference, already sponsors men's and women's cross country. Broadly speaking, the Lions have held their own on the grass, although they have also been outmatched by more established conference rivals such as Eastern Kentucky, Lipscomb and North Florida. Last fall, at the 2024 ASUN XC Championships, North Alabama took 7th place on the women's side and 5th on the men's side in a field of 12 teams. It's worth noting that a select few individuals have had solid success during their time at North Alabama. Brian Bett, for example, won the men's race at the ASUN XC Championships last fall before finishing 20th at the South Regional XC Championships. Last week, at the Gans Creek Classic, Bett placed 7th in the "Black" race while teammate Sandra Maiyo won the women's "Open" race. North Alabama's press release states that the track and field programs will be "distance-based." Current head cross country coach Connor Callahan, who started that role in 2024, will also be at the helm of the Lions' track and field programs.