Sept. 6, 2007
ST. LOUIS -
Freshman Matt Mroczynski (Mer-CHIN-ski) was honored as the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Athlete of the Week for his performance at the Illini Challenge 6K race hosted by Illinois Friday, Aug. 31 at the Illinois Arboretum in Urbana, Ill., as announced by the league office Wednesday afternoon.
Mroczynski began his collegiate career with a second-place finish at the Illini Challenge. The freshman was the top finisher in the race for the Redbirds, finishing in 18:26.88, just behind Illinois' first-place finisher, Jacob Nachel (18:15.30).
Head coach Jeff Bovee believes that Mroczynski's transition into running on a collegiate level has been successful because he adapted well to his training style.
"Matt is a talented athlete and is very competitive," said Bovee. "I think that the transition from high school to college has been easy for him because he is used to threshold and tempo training. He does not have to run high miles; he runs high intensity workouts."
Mroczynski led the Illinois State men's cross country team to a second-place team finish in its season opener behind first place Illinois. Also competing in the challenge was Marquette which finished third, Valley-foe Bradley, which placed fourth, the Illinois Cross Country Club (fifth) and Danville Area Community College (sixth).
Bovee feels that the men's cross country team is working to raise the bar and is continually pushing each other to perform at top levels.
"I think that Matt and the men's team are really working together to improve," said Bovee. "We have a great nucleus of Matt, Scott Krapf, Mike Richardson and Jordan Anderson that really want to do well and carry ISU to a higher level."
The Illinois State men's and women's cross country teams are scheduled to race at home Sept. 14 at 5 p.m., as they host the Illinois Intercollegiate at the University Golf Course.
