Central Michigan University Athletics
Men's Cross Takes Week Off
10/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Oct. 7, 2003
MOUNT PLEASANT -- The Central Michigan University men's cross country team will take a week off before it heads into one of its most competitive portions of its schedule.
The Chippewas enter the bye week ranked No. 6 in the coaches poll, the highest ranking by a Chippewa squad ever.
The Chippewas' ranking will be put to the test as the final four meets are all scored meets and will involve some of the top teams in both the conference and in the country. After the short reprieve, CMU will return to action at the Pre-NCAA meet, the MAC championships, and then move on to the NCAA regional and championship meets.
The week off is exactly what the team needs.
"This is going to be a good recovery week for the guys on the team," said head coach Craig Fuller. "The time off will allow us to focus on the training phase. If we focus on the training this week, it will only make us a better team."
Fuller is still looking for the final four runners that will fill out the starting lineup in the homestretch. The Chippewas have a solid top five but with nine runners eligible to run at the MAC championships, four slots still remain open. While Fuller was hoping that his lineup would come into focus at the end last week, he still sees the slots wide open.
"We can run nine guys at the conference meet and after our first five, I don't know who is going to run," Fuller said. "I don't think that it's an issue that I don't have the final four spots figured out yet. We still have three weeks before the MAC championships and I think we will have it figured out by then."
Fuller ran a "B" team at the Notre Dame Invitational last week. It finished 15th out of 23 teams but raced against some very tough competition. It was a chance, Fuller notes, for some runners to get valuable experience under their belts.
"I think the guys who ran at Notre Dame will run better down the stretch," said Fuller. "They needed races to get used to running in very competitive situations like the Notre Dame Invite."
Luke Humphrey (Sidney/Sr.) saw his first action of the year. After battling injury the first few weeks, Fuller will try to get him up to the level he was at last year, near the top.
"Humphrey is coming along," Fuller noted. "He was coming off a high-mileage week last week. And, hopefully, Jake Flynn (Benzonia/Jr.) and Rick Bauer (Howell/Sr.) will come around by then and our team will have the depth it needs this late in the season."
Last Week - The Chippewas' "B" team finished 15th at the five-mile Notre Dame Invite on Sept. 26. They had 349 points.
Host Notre Dame took the team title with 76 points while Eastern Michigan's Gavin Thompson took the top individual spot in 24:06.
Luke Humphrey led the way for CMU. In his first race back, he was 52nd overall in 25:41. Jacob Crowe was the next Chippewa to cross the finish line. He was 67th in 25:48. Also scoring at Notre Dame were: Kevin Sule (70th, 25:48); Ron Miller (77th, 25:51); and Matt Kaczor (93rd, 26:01).