Aug. 26, 2009
ST. LOUIS -
The Illinois State men's and women's cross country teams were picked to finish in third and second place, respectively, in the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll announced Wednesday, as voted on by the league coaches.
The women were tabbed to finish the season in second place behind Wichita State. The Shockers had 96 points with seven first-place votes, while the Redbirds earned 86 points along with three first-place votes. Missouri State, Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa rounded out the top-five in the MVC preseason poll.
"On the women's side, there have been a lot of changes in the Valley", said head coach Jeff Bovee. "Wichita State has a loaded team with a lot of depth. They also have front runners that return that are strong. They are the clear favorites, but our women's team has more experience now competing against top runners throughout the country after competing at the Notre Dame Invitational and Pre-nationals."
Michelle Brunk is the Redbirds top returner after crossing the finish line in 10th place at the Valley championships with a time of 18:09.46 in the women's 5K. ISU also returns Aisha Praught, Olivia Myers and Jess Husted who finished the Valley championships in 14th, 15th and 16th place, respectively.
"The strength of our teams is our depth, and the key to winning a championship this year will be having individuals step up," said Bovee. "I see our No. 2 ranking on the women's side as a reassurance that people see where our program is heading and we have a really strong core. Now, it is on us to go out there and get the job done and win a championship."
On the men's side, the Redbirds are expected to take third with 66 points. Southern Illinois took first place with 79 total points and eight first-place votes. Indiana State had one first-place vote and 71 total points to earn a second place preseason selection.
"With the men's preseason ranking, we are third which went according to the finish of last year's MVC cross country championships. Due to the fact most of the teams in the Valley return almost their entire rosters, it is not a very big surprise how things played out," said Bovee. "We return six of our top-seven runners from last season. We graduated Mike (Richardson), but we have strong group returning as well."
Matt Mroczynski finished in second place individually in the men's 8K at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships with a time of 24:43.22. Scott Krapf also finished in the top-10 for the Redbirds in the men's 8K. Krapf took seventh place with a 24:54.22.
"There is going to be a bit more parody this year," said Bovee. "Last year was dominated by the top-three teams with 16 of the top-17 individuals coming from Southern Illinois, Indiana State and Illinois State. This year isn't going to be quite like that. It is going to be deeper how teams and individuals go. It is going to be competitive."
The Redbirds will open their 2009 season at the Illini Challenge in Champaign, Ill., Friday Sept. 3 at 5 p.m.
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