Taybri Irving Wins in Style

With a "flower" in her hair and fleet feet Augsburg's Taybri Irving didn't come into the MIAC Cross Country Championships women's race expecting to win, but as her coach Meghan Peyton told her, it was a race she could win.  Defending champion Kimber Meyer, like Irving a senior running in her last conference championship, wanted to go out on top.  "I was thinking about (the race) all week," she said.

Plotting what it might take to win.  A noted front runner, Meyer, decided to stick with what has worked for her and shortly after the start of the 6K run, she made her move, pulling away from Irving and three other runners to take an early lead.  Irving meanwhile was following Peyton's advice: "I told her to stay in the top five and if anybody made a break not to go with it," said Peyton.  "They'll come back to you."

Slowly, but surely Irving closed the gap on Meyer, leaving the chase pack behind and challenged Meyer as the pair exchanged surges and the lead on the last lap.  "I was trying to run hard on the downhills, said Meyer, "because I'm not as good going uphill as I am going down."  The downhill surges couldn't shake Irving, however, and she pulled away for good.  "With 500 to go I was trying as hard as I could (to stay with Irving)," said Meyer, "but she pulled away and I wasn't going to catch her. I don't have much of a kick."

Taybri Irving nearing the finish. Photo courtesy of Augsburg

Irving became the first Augsburg runner to win an MIAC XC title.  Finishing her MIAC career the same way she started in middle school in Rosemount.  "Running the mile in gym," Irving said was the launching pad for her running career.  "I wanted to win."  Having experimented with tennis and football(soccer) prior to running, Irving found her sport.  "I always liked running."  A music major with a math minor at Augsburg, Irving plays classical music on guitar and tutor's French students.

She also has a trademark of sorts in that she wears a cloth flower in her hair, changing the color of the flower frequently.  The sartorial feature has no particular significance, she said, she just likes to wear a flower.  And she likes to win.