Player profile: captain leads team to finish line

Although a lot of people enjoy massages because they feel good and give you goose bumps, a lot of people don’t realize that they are great for you in more ways than one. “There’s a huge mental benefit that comes along with massages. It’s rare someone doesn’t feel better after a massage. It’s good for your mental and physical well being. Some people don’t realize that,” Kuesel said.

After graduating from Pennsylvania Institute of Massage Therapy, Kuesel decided to narrow down his focus on specifically fitness related therapy. According to him, 83 percent of massage therapists are females, who proceed to work in spas and salons. “I like massaging people interested in fitness. I like athletics and helping people who are fitness conscious. My main goal is to help people maintain physical and mental fitness,” Kuesel said.

Furthermore, massage therapy does just that. According to Kuesel, massages can help lengthen and relax muscles, which can prevent you from pulling muscles and helps them stretch better. We have all heard the famous advice of stretching before engaging in strenuous activity, but watching

KELLIE BELMONTE STAFF WRITER KRB722@CABRINI EDU

Captain of the cross country team, senior Shaun Smith, has high hopes for this season. Smith began his cross country career at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J. and has continued his running career at Cabrini for the past fours years.

Smith has set some personal goals for himself this year. “I want to have my best season in terms of breaking my personal best time and if possible decrease in time. I want to get stronger every week,” Smith said. Smith has had to deal with some injuries such as shin splints.

the massage therapist dig his fingers into muscles and working out knots that people had should make us realize taking care of our muscles is something of much importance.

In order to research the chair massage session, I felt as if I was forced to experience it first hand. The therapist twisted my arm when he invited me to take a seat and give it a try. His hands seemed to have a magical touch as they smoothed out each knot in my back. He said the key to a good massage is the perfect amount of pressure.

“If the therapist puts too much on your muscles, you’ll be in pain afterwards. If they don’t put enough, you’ll walk away feeling as if you had nothing done,” Kuesel said. Well apparently he used the right amount of pressure because walking away from it, I felt rejuvenated, relaxed, and tranquil.

So while you’re on your lunch break and need the tension in your back to be rubbed away, stop by the Dixon Center between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. To learn what days the chair massage sessions will be taking place, check out the one.cabrini.edu website, and click on Campus Announcements.

“Often times I’ll be in the pool or have to do something different from the rest of the team because of my injuries,” Smith said. Smith feels that although the team lost runners, they have gained back through new freshman with extra strength. “We had three freshman join this year, and that’s about the number we lost. So I feel like it worked out,” Smith said. Smith also feels as though this is a very tight knit team. “We seem to be coming together well as a team. We’re much closer than most teams I have been on,” Smith said. As a team, Smith would like to see them win Pennsylvania Athletic Conference. Smith feels as though they are doing very well up to this point. “We actually won the Dukes Invitational and placed well at our last meet,” Smith said.

As captain this year, Smith hopes this season will be a memorable one. “The team has never won a PAC championship since I’ve been here. We’ve been runner up twice, so to win the PAC would be a great way to end my cross-country career here at Cabrini,” Smith said.

Smith feels as though this year is extremely important to him.

“We have a good team with a lot of great guys on it,” Smith said, “Come out and support us!”