Men
After placing a school record high fourth place in the 2009 Great Lakes Region meet, the Sycamore men's cross country team will begin its 2010 campaign with hopes of an even better finish this season.
The Sycamores will kickoff their 2010 season with the Mid-America Opener hosted by the University of Evansville. This meet will be a little different than most of the meets the Sycamores will run all season, as it will be a 6k instead of the usual 8k.
"I think for the first race a 6k is good, even though it might play into the hands of the faster type distance runner," head coach John McNichols said.
Despite graduating two former All-Americans and national's qualifiers Scott Keeney and Eric Schulz, the Sycamores are a much deeper team this season and, as a result, will run an alternate lineup for the opening weekend.
This weekend the Sycamores will only use a select group of returning runners, giving the freshmen and newcomers on the squad a chance to get an extra week of training before officially beginning their collegiate career.
In the lineup for this weekend are seniors Michael Disher and Andrew Lepkowski, along with juniors Dustin Betz, Craig Padgett, Jeremiah Vaughan and Brandon Query. Sophomore Al Escelara will round out the squad for the opening weekend.
"We have had three hard workouts since we have been back [on campus] and they have all responded really well," McNichols said. "They are very fit, highly motivated and have some very good experience."
While it is the season open for most teams, the meet should still prove to be very competitive with the presence of 34th ranked Louisville.
"If we can go down and run very competitive with [Lousiville] like we did a year ago, my expectations will be higher," McNichols said.
The Sycamores finished the 2009 season ranked 33rd nationally. However, they did not receive any votes to be ranked in the 2010 preseason poll. The Sycamores were ranked sixth in the Great Lakes Region.
"That's the highest we have ever been ranked period," McNichols said. "Obviously the coach who is in charge of doing the rankings did their homework and knows what certain teams lost."
The meet is set to begin at 11 a.m. on the Evansville University Cross Country Course in Evansville, Ind.
Women
When the Sycamore women's cross country team takes to the course Saturday at the Mid-America Opener, it will have a slightly different look than last season.
Off of last year's squad the Sycamores lost Kayla Alexander, Emily Pugh and Julia Costello to graduation. All three competed on the Region team one year ago.
For the first meet of the year, the race will be slightly shorter than the standard 5k or 6k as the runners will only cover 4k. However, head coach John Gartland feels as if the shorter distance might be a benefit to his team.
"I think it will actually give us an advantage," Gartland said. "Our top two returning runners from a year ago, Allison Malone and Kacie Klem, are pretty good middle distance runners and I think they actually like starting out with the shorter distance."
Despite losing three seniors, the Sycamores should return even stronger with an exceptional freshman class to fill in behind senior leader Malone. The only non-returner to compete for the Sycamores this weekend is freshman Ashley Name.
"I am trying to have a competitive team for this meet," Gartland said. "Ashley has looked as good as any of our freshmen, and I kind of want her to be our insurance if we need her. I kind of used her to balance the line up and Ashley had done a good job."
Despite it being only the first meet, there will exceptional competition with Louisville being the main focus for the Sycamores.
"We want to beat Louisville," Gartland said. "They are a fine program and I think that gives us a lot of focus for what we want to get done."
The meet is set to begin at 11 a.m. on the Evansville University Cross Country Course in Evansville, Ind.
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