The men and women’s cross country teams are ready for the 2009 season. The men’s team is coming off a year where they ended up fourth at the GLIAC championship meet and the women finished tenth. The men’s team will face the challenge of matching last year’s achievements, as three of the previous year’s top five runners will be redshirted this fall while another of the top five runners graduated.
Coach Croy said, “We are looking to match the success we had last year at the GLIAC Championship meet.” To meet this goal, a number of returners will have to improve on their best times, and freshmen additions may need to step up. A dozen freshmen have been added to the squad this year who have the potential to do just that if they work hard enough. Top returners this year include Dominique O’Neal and Adam Nunns.
Both teams right now are in the final push for the beginning of the cross country season. The teams have just started their camp and it seems like the team is excited for the season. The team’s recent time trials had Croy enthused by what he saw, especially on the women’s side. Three women finished the time trial running faster then any time put up the previous season.
“The women’s team seems to be gelling better than ever and going into camp will only strengthen this team’s bond,” said Croy. The women’s team has six of their top seven runners back from last year, so they shouldn’t have a major drop off from last year’s team. Senior Maria Shaw along with juniors Heidi Kiesel and Erin Casey hope to be the leaders of this women’s team and improve on their best times. With the addition of some excellent freshmen runners as well, such as Carly Reese of Kansas, Ohio (state qualifier), some new faces could have an impact immediately on this team. Tichelle Brant of Columbus, Ohio also has shown some strong potential this year.
With this team becoming closer and putting in the hard work needed, both of the men’s and women’s cross country teams are looking to have a very successful season. The main meets for them this year will be the All-Ohio meet which takes place on October 2 and the other one is the GLIAC Championship meet being held at Saginaw Valley, which takes place October 24. Their first meet is September 5 at home and everyone involved with the cross country program anxiously awaits to see how this team’s hard work will pay off.