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2007 EOU Cross Country Season Outlook
The 2007 Cross Country has a promising look about it here at EOU, with a few key additions and the return of some veterans after a year out of CC competition and the return of the National Meet to Kenosha Wisconsin - site of quite a few successful National meets for EOU, including a second place finish by the men in 2002 and a 3rd place finish by the women in 1999 and numerous top ten finishes for both squads. Among the reasons this an exciting year, is for the first and only time, the Cascade Conference and the NAIA Region I meet will be held separately. In the past they have been run together and next year there will no longer be a region meet as the NAIA moves to a Conference Direct qualification plan and the Conference meet will move to the early November date currently occupied by the Region meet. Albertson College will host the Cascade Conference meet on October 20th at Eagle Island State Park near Caldwell, Idaho and Evergreen State College will host the NAIA Region I meet on November 3rd in Olympia, WA.
Women: After barley missing out on a NAIA National Championship berth last fall, the core returning women are by and large, focused and fired up. Add into that mix the return of Stephanie (Colkitt) Windle after a year off (now working on her Education Masters degree) and several promising Freshman and optimism is running high for the ladies. Also consider we only graduated three off of last years team and none of them were generally in our top five (scoring) and two of them were usually either just inside of, or just outside of our top 7…in other words, the top 5 runners, on average, from last year are back.
Top Returning runners from 2006:
Junior- Marcella Bosch: Marcella was our only National qualifier last fall and is having a very promising summer of training in addition to coming off or a very strong outdoor track season that saw her awarded the cascade Conference Female Athlete of the Meet after she won the 800 and 1500 at the 2006 conference meet. Juniors- Chelsee Harmon, Kendra Stone and Katie Clapp: Last year as Sophomores, these three recorded the 2nd, 4th and 5th fastest times of the year and for the most part are having very good summers of training. Sophomores Abby Morrison and Dani Murphy: The third fastest runner on the team last year in just her first season of CC. If Abby can avoid the kind of knee trouble that plagued her last winter and spring, she may see some improvements that surprises her and much of the conference. Dani had a huge break through race at the Region meet last year as a Freshman and is having a much better summer of training than last year…may be another surprise for the Mounties. Senior Sara Bates- after a frustrating fall in ’06, Sara appears to have a handle on an iron issue that plagued her for the last few years and if things continue to go well, may have a break through year- the talent is there. Others and Freshmen:
Senior Stephanie (Colkitt) Windle: After being one of the leading runners in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, Stephanie returns for her final CC season after taking a year off to work and get married….could help provide some much needed depth at the front end (has the second fastest PR- personal record- on the team after Bosch), provided she can balance the demands of the Masters degree work and carefully regain the fitness she had two years ago after a week of low volume training.
Freshmen:
We have three incoming Freshmen who may contribute to the program right away, or may be a year or two away, as they are all three underdeveloped coming out of High School. They are: Rachel O’Reilly, Union OR: A very positive individual with very limited development (did not run CC all the way through HS). Rachel has been having an outstanding summer of training, so we will see where it takes her this fall and beyond! Courtney Schmidig, Scio, OR: Courtney is another underdeveloped athlete -running anything from the 4 x 100 to the 3,000 meter race in high school track, including placing at the 2A state meet in the Triple Jump! Like Rachel, Courtney has very similar marks to Dani Murphy out of HS in Cross Country…Dani improved by all most three minutes as a Freshman, so hard to tell what will happen here! Kristi Platen, Martinsdale, MT (Harlowton HS): Kristi may be the least developed of the three, as tiny Harlowton HS does not offer Cross Country. Despite that disadvantage, Kristi placed in four races as a Junior and Senior in HS at the Montana State Track and Field meet. She recorded top 6 finishes in the 800, 1600 and 3200 as an individual (winning the 3200 is a Junior) and as a member of Harlowton’s 4 x 400 meter relay both years (as well as placing in some combination of those events as a Freshman and Sophomore). Well known as a first class competitor. As you can see, there is a lot of potential here, but there are a lot of questions as well…..questions that can only be answered through continued solid summer training and time. Should be a fun season as they are a great group of young women to work with and the goal is to make it back to the NAIA National championship as a team.
Men:
The men’s team has a similar look to the women as there is a blend of returning athletes from last fall’s squad, “some” veterans from previous seasons and promising new additions to the team. However, it is in the number of red shirts from last fall that may mark the most dramatic difference.
Returning Runners From 2006:
Senior, Troy Blackburn: Troy had a break out season of CC last year, right up until the end when a cramp at the Regional Meet dashed his and the teams, chances of qualifying for the NAIA National meet. From the sounds of things, Troy is having an even better summer of training than he did last year and he had a good summer in 2006.
Seniors Josh Cobb and Morgan Saltenberger: If Josh can stay healthy, he is positioned to have a big impact on the team this fall – last year he ran #2 man most of the fall behind Troy. Morgan was coming off of a stress fracture last fall and still managed to break through in several areas. Morgan has been a model of consistent training since then.
Sophomores Cam Starner and Justin Dean; Cam and Dean usually ran 4th and 5th for us last fall and both have shown a great deal of improvement and adaptation to college level running since then.
Kenny Thissell and John Aguirre: Kenny will red shirt this fall and John will focus most of his training on the 400 and 800 in track.
Return/Addition of the Red Shirts:
Through planning and a few quirks of the sport, we had a large Red Shirt group in 2006; the majority of those individuals will be in uniform this fall.
Senior Josh Ego- Josh was our number one runner most of the 2005 season and just missed out on qualifying for Nationals in ’05. After a planned red shirt and a very good year of training, Josh may make a big break through this year.
Senior Adam Goulet- Adam was also a planned red shirt in ’06 and is stronger than ever after two full years of very good training with minor interruptions. Adam ran number 4 most of 2005.
Sophomore Zach Heath- Zach had not fully recovered from a stress fracture at the start of the 2006 season, so was an unplanned red shirt last year, but has done a great deal of solid training since coming back from injury. Zach was also a regular in the top 4- 7 range his freshman year in his first real season of CC, as he only ran CC on a part time basis during his Junior year of HS, splitting his time with football.
Sophomore Doug Benson- Doug was another unplanned red shirt last fall, as he transferred in one hour to few to compete. All in all, that should prove to be a very good thing, as Doug is more focused and has been training more consistently than any other time in his running career.
Dan Sipko (Jr.), Fernando Morales and Carlos Quintana (both will be Red shirt Fr.); Dan, Fernando and Carlos also red shirted last year and could have an impact this fall, provided Dan and Fernando successfully complete some summer work for eligibility. Dan is a former top 5 runner from both 2004 and 2005 and Fernando is another untapped talent as he played soccer in HS and has never actually raced a season of CC. Transfer/Freshmen:
Quite a few questions here, as there is some talent here, but in the case of the two freshmen, not much development and for the transfer, we are still waiting on his final transcripts/admissions process to see if he is ready to go this fall…there is no questions about his ability to help us right now! They are:
Junior Iderse Osman- San Diego, CA and Adams State College, CO: Iderse is a proven talent, as he was the number 4 man on Adams State College’s runner up team at the 2005 NCAA Division II National Meet. Only question here is can we get him healthy and fit enough and will he have every thing he needs to be eligible as a Junior (he is a solid student, just always worry until we have seen all of the transcripts! Iderse moved to California from his native country of Ethiopia just before he turned 15 and after graduation form Dan Diego High attended Alliant International for a year (just missing the NAIA National meet as an individual his Fr. year in Cross and placing 12th in the 5k at the NAIA Outdoor National Meet that year as well) and then transferred to Adams State when Alliant dropped most of their funding for athletic aid at the end of his freshman year.
Freshman Jeffery Roy, Genesee, Idaho: Jeff has never run CC, as Genesee does not have CC. Jeff, is however, a proven competitor and is coming off a stellar senior year of HS in which he was a starter on the Idaho 1A runner up football team, 1A State Championship Basketball team and won two individual titles (800 and 3200) and anchored a relay team (sprint medley that consists of, in order, 200, 200, 400, 800) to a 1A sate meet record at the 2007 Idaho State Track and Field meet. Jeff also won the 1A State title in the 3200 as a Junior.
Freshman Travis Clark, Talkeetna, AK, Susitna Valley HS: Travis was one of the top HS CC runners in the Alaska Small School division the past two years, but do to an injury/illness in the spring of 2007 and relative lack of development, will most likely red shirt as a Freshman.
As you can see, like the women, there is a great deal of potential here, but some questions to be answered, to a large extent by summer training (training that appears to be going well in all but a couple of cases). There is also, like with the women, the question of who is ready to step it up and reap the benefit of all the hard work. Who knows, perhaps the men will recapture the Cascade Conference Crown they held for 11 straight years after a three year absence and return to the NAIA National Meet after a two year absence and the women can recapture the conference crown they held in 2005 and return to Nationals as well. Only time will tell. |