Cross Country Kicks It Off With Drenth Memorial
9/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Staying healthy and staying on the line are critical to potential success in cross country.
If Central Michigan can do that in 2015, both its men's and women's can be competitive in the Mid-American Conference.
The Chippewas open the season Friday with the annual Jeff Drenth Memorial at Pleasant Hills Golf Club. Michigan State and Alma will join CMU in the event. Both the male and female races are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
"If you take a look at our rosters, both men and women, on the top end we added some pretty good talent," associated head coach Matt Kaczor said. "In our top five we're going to have some new players."
Particularly on the women's side, where the Chippewas are charged with replacing the graduated Abbey Kelto, who last fall became just the second CMU female to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Two transfers, sophomore Kirsten Olling (Arizona State) and redshirt freshman Megan O'Neill (Wisconsin) will join Breanne Lesnar and Kelly Schubert to form a solid front-running nucleus, Kaczor said.
"Between those four, each one could potentially be our No. 1 runner at every meet," he said. "Now you've got a little bit of intrasquad competition for that top position. It only makes us better. We're deeper than we have been, we're not relying on just a couple of (top) ladies. We're probably about nine or 10 deep."
Schubert, a junior, red-shirted last season after earning Second Team All-MAC honors in 2013; Lesnar battled injuries throughout the 2014 season and will sit out early, but should return by late September, Kaczor said; Olling won four Michigan Division IV high school state titles at Breckenridge; and O'Neill was a standout at Chippewa Hills High School.
Veterans Esther Bell and Hannah Davis return along with Michaela Bundy and Katie Weiler. Freshman Sam Allmacher should be in the mix, Kaczor said.
"We're going to have some ladies to choose from to round out the top seven," Kaczor said. "And we can race-plan appropriately because we don't have to race all of our top people all of the time."
The Chippewas finished fifth in the MAC last season, their lowest placing since a sixth-place showing in 2007. They were picked to finish fifth this season in the preseason coaches poll.
"You look at our group and you think this team should be better than our fifth-place finish from last year," Kaczor said. Do we have a runner who can be first team all-conference like Kelto was last year? I don't know, but we're going to have a lot of ladies who are going to be closer to Abbey's position (seventh in the MAC) than we had before.
"I think we've got a group of ladies that are about that quality. It's just where will that put us in the conference? The conference is pretty good. We're just going to try to control what we can, get as good as we can by the end of the year, and see where that takes us."
The Chippewa men return a solid top three in seniors Nate Ghena and Silas Dekalita and sophomore Joseph Emmanuel. Ghena has earned First Team All-MAC honors in each of the past two years, while Dekalita was a second-teamer in 2014.
"Our goal this year is to see if we can get those three guys in the top 10 (in the MAC)," Kaczor said.
The Chippewas will be bolstered by a healthy Spencer Nousain, a junior who ran to second-team all-conference honors two years ago as a freshman. He was CMU's No. 4 runner last season, when he was hampered by injuries.
"He's come back way better than what he was last year," Kaczor said.
The Chippewas also return veterans Monte Scott, Casey Voisin and Alec Toreki, while Mark Beckmann and Luke Anderson are among the newcomers who could crack the top seven.
Anderson, who hails from Harbor Beach, was the No. 3 high school steeplechaser in the nation, while Beckman placed fifth in the all-class Indiana state championships a year ago.
"On paper I would think we should be in the top two or three in the MAC," Kaczor said. "But it's how you perform that day. You can't control other people's races. You've got to control yourself and execute it."
Players Mentioned
