Sept. 2, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's and women's cross country teams will open their 2010 seasons at the Hawkeye Invitational Friday in Iowa City, Iowa, at the challenging Ashton Cross Country Course. The women will compete in a 3K race, which is set to begin at 6 p.m., and will be followed by the men's 6K race at 6:30 p.m.
Illinois State will compete against Missouri-Kansas City and host Iowa. The Hawkeyes are ranked in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Regional rankings. The men's team is ranked fifth in the Midwest Region, while the women's team sits in third place. The women's team is also ranked 29th nationally.
Head cross country coach Jeff Bovee is using the first meet of the season as an assessment tool to see where ISU is at in its training and how it will compete against other teams.
"For both the men and the women, I think they are ready to see other runners and see where they are at," said Bovee. "We have tried to bring them along slowly here the last couple of weeks with some quality sessions, and this meet will give us a better idea of where we are at in our current status of fitness. I see this meet as an assessment of our teams. The teams we have this weekend will do well, but I expect them to improve as the season goes on."
Running for the women's team will be seniors Michelle Brunk, Jess Husted, Kirsten Lang and Olivia Myers, junior Aisha Praught and freshmen Ruth Allen, Kimberly Christensen, Megan Fry, Shannon Nemetz, Annette White and Kristen Zillmer.
"The seniors have laid the foundation for the program and have been the reason why our program has improved over the last few years, so we owe a lot to them," said Bovee. "I know the seniors want to go out and set the tempo for the younger women on the team. With that being said, I think we are going to have a nice blend of experience and youth. Starting this weekend, I think we are going to see some new faces on the women's side that will start to make a nice contribution to the team."
Competing on the men's side will be senior Matt Mroczynski, juniors Jim Link and John Navarro, sophomores Blake Brooks, Steven Regan and Mat Smoody and freshmen Matt Schacht, Sean Senf and Erik Stanton.
"We have a lot of talented guys on this roster and a lot of guys are ready to take on the role of the leader," said Bovee. "One of them being Matt (Mroczynski), who was a runner-up at the Missouri Valley Championships two years ago. This meet for the men is similar to the women. We want to see where we are at and we are going to need contributions from some of the freshmen and sophomores, who have a little bit of experience. We are going to have to rely on these guys to step it up this fall and help bridge the gap between Southern Illinois and Indiana State, who are ranked ahead of us and beat us at conference last season."
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