Washburn freshman athletes are preparing to take on their first season as Ichabods. Here are three students excited to see where the season takes them:

Jasmine Duarte

• Year: Freshman
• Major: Kinesiology
• Sport: Cross Country
• Height: 5-3
• Favorite color: Green
• Favorite food: Watermelon
• Favorite movie: Anything Disney

Q: How do you feel about being a freshman at Washburn?

A: I’m excited, I came here and I knew it was the school for me. It just kinda happened.

Q: How do you feel about running?

A: I’m super excited for this new program that we are starting fresh and I’m really excited to see what we can do in the upcoming years.

Q: How do you feel about the upcoming season? Are you anxious?

A: I’m definitely nervous because people are looking at us since we’re new, but I feel like we have a pretty strong team and we have a pretty good relationship between each other so we are going to push each other to do better.

Q: How are you fitting in as a student instead of just as an athlete?

A: Classes are good, it’s definitely something I’m enjoying because I’m studying what I want to study, which is helping me a lot.

Q: Anything you feel that the people of Washburn should know about you?

A: I just love to run. I’m excited to see what happens here.

Jasmine and the rest of the women’s cross country team will be joining the men’s cross country team as they travel to Bolivar, Missouri where they will race in the SBU invitational on Sept. 2.

Cole Duncan

• Year: Freshman
• Major: Kinesiology
• Sport: Cross Country
• Height: 5-6
• Favorite color: Blue
• Favorite food: Pizza (don’t tell coach)
• Favorite movie: Prefontaine

Q: How do you feel about being a freshman at Washburn?

A: It’s great coming here, starting a new program. They got a lot of new great things like the dorms and the cafe.

Q: How do you feel about being in cross country?

A: It’s great. It’s something I did all throughout highschool and I loved it. It’s great being on a brand new team. There’s a lot of excitement in the program, and I think we can do some great things.

Q: How do you feel about the upcoming season? Any anxiety building up?

A: I’m really nervous, but at the same time, I’m really excited. I know, personally, there’s a lot of growth.

Q: How do you feel as a freshman, as a student, instead of just as an athlete?

A: I’m really enjoying the student part so far. I’m enjoying all my classes, I like the way my schedule’s set up. It’s going really well.

Q: Do you have anything you think that the people of Washburn should know about you?

A: I’m out here repping Texas!

Cole and the rest of the men’s cross country team will be joining the women’s cross country team as they travel to Bolivar, Missouri where they will race in the SBU invitational on Sept. 2.

Erica Montgomery

• Year: Freshman
• Major: Nursing
• Sport: Volleyball
• Position: Outside Hitter
• Height: 5-10
• Favorite color: Blue
• Favorite food: Brookville Chicken

Q: How do you feel about being a freshman playing volleyball at Washburn?

A: I’m very excited. Going from a senior back down to a freshman is kinda scary, but all the girls are very supportive.

Q: Would you say you have a kind of, family atmosphere between you and the rest of the team?

A: Yes, definitely. Everyone get’s along very well, they’re all very welcoming.

Q: How do you feel about going into the competitive season?

A: We’ve got games on friday (Sept. 2) and saturday (Sept. 3), and I’m obviously very nervous of them, but I’m ready to see how the difference is between highschool and college.

Q: Any things you would want the people of Washburn to know about you?

A: I’m a twin.

Q: Anything you can tell us about that?

A: This is the first time that me and my brother have been apart. He goes to Missouri Western, so it’s kinda a big deal for us. It’s pretty hard but we try and stay in contact a lot.

You can see Erica and the rest of the women’s volleyball team Sept. 2-3 at Lee Arena. They have games at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 and games at 11:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Sept. 3.