Cross Country to open season at Maple Leaf Festival

Emporia State’s cross country teams will compete in their first meet of the season this Saturday at Baldwin City’s Maple Leaf Festival.

David Harris, head coach of both the men’s and women’s teams, feels that this year’s runners have done a lot to prepare for the upcoming season.

“We started training as a team on Aug. 18 and have been running to increase our mileage over these first three weeks,” Harris said in an email interview. “Of course the runners ran all summer to get their mileage up to start into a collegiate running program. Now that we are together, our intensity has picked up also.”

Harris also said the teams are working toward different goals this season and that each have their own set of strengths and weaknesses.

“We have some veteran leadership on (the) men’s team that is a positive,” Harris said. “Our leaders train hard and lead by example. Our weakness is our ability to train as a group. We get way too spread out in mileage runs in practice. I think the ability to run as a pack is developed in practice and then in competition it shows. Right now I am looking for this team to improve running together.”

This season, the men’s team would like to finish in the top three teams at the MIAA and have a shot at performing well at the NCAA regional competition in November. Harris would like to see the women’s team make progress individually and as a team to move up the ladder of MIAA ranking.

“(The women’s team is) enthusiastic and positive but very young. That is strength and also a weakness… We only have seven women running. Injuries will dictate whether we really achieve this year as a team. If we can be healthy we can start to make progress in MIAA.”

Katie Mona, a freshman elementary education major, is new to ESU’s cross country team this season. Mona hopes to make steady improvement throughout the coming year.

“I want to improve,” Mona said. “I want to try to do the best that I can, so I’m going to put all the time into it that I need to improve.”

Harris feels that Mona will prove to be an asset to the team throughout the coming season.

“Mona has shown the ability to be a runner who will be up in the races,” Harris said.

Skyler Delmott, junior and number one runner for the men’s team, worked hard over the summer to train for this season.

“I just did a lot of long distance training,” Delmott said. “I put in 70-plus miles a week over the summer and got into the weight room and did some circuit training.”

Harris expects positive results.

“(Delmott) has worked hard all summer,” Harris said. “He is trying to reach a higher level of college running that requires a lot of work. The work is paying off and his best races are ahead of him.”

For many runners, Saturday’s meet will mean the beginning of a season that has been a long time coming.

“I’m really excited,” Delmott said. “I can’t wait to see what the team does and how everybody runs. It’s the first meet of the season, so we’ll see if our summer training is going to pay off.”