Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Gear Up For Spartan Invitational
9/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Nate Perry, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Once again, Central Michigan cross country will make the short trip down US-127 to run at Forest Akers East Golf Course, the on-campus course at Michigan State University and the site for the Spartan Invitational on Friday.
The meet again features a solid field of programs from around the state along with a sprinkling of other Midwestern schools. This year, the headliners include perennial MAC power Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, and the host Spartans. Also in the field is Grand Valley State, whose women's and men's teams checked in at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Preseason National Poll.
Over the past few seasons, CMU has typically rested many of its top runners for the Spartan Invitational and has finished toward the middle of the pack for both genders as a result. However, this year has the potential to be different.
In 2016, the CMU men's cross country team was one of the youngest in the conference (four upperclassmen on a roster of 14), and with the decision to redshirt many members of a large and talented freshman class, coach Matt Kaczor was left with just nine runners in Chippewa uniforms.
This year, all of those youngsters are a year older, the freshmen are ready to run for the Maroon and Gold, and coach Kaczor is like a Corvette owner who has had it in the garage for the past year: ready to show off some horsepower.
Kaczor's star-studded class of 2016 showed up in a big way at the season-opening Jeff Drenth Memorial 5K on Sept. 1. Conor Naughton took eighth place in his first CMU race. Logan Kleam, who will make his CMU debut Friday, ran unattached and finished just two seconds behind winner and fellow 2016 CMU recruit Bransen Stimpfel.
Adding to the youth movement were a pair of sophomores, Mark Beckmann and Luke Anderson, who took fourth place and seventh place, respectively.
The Spartan Invitational will be an 8K race, which is scheduled to being at 12:15 p.m., and since most of the men's team has very little experience with that distance, Kaczor has decided to take advantage of the opportunity.
"Logan and Conor, I think they've only ran like two 8Ks," said the fifth-year head coach. "I want to get them into an 8K experience before we get to the Greater Louisville meet. They looked really good in their 8Ks last year - I think they were in the top 10 amongst redshirts - but they're going to have to see the differences in what a bigger competition is all about."
The CMU women's team produced plenty of excitement of its own at the Drenth, led by Taylor Aguillon (second place), Megan O'Neil (third) and Hannah Davis (fifth).
Aguillon made her varsity debut at the Drenth after two years on the CMU Running Club and looked very impressive for someone who never ran at the high school level, Kaczor said.
O'Neil and Davis are veterans and will be expected to continue leading the team with top finishes.
Along with Kirsten Olling, O'Neil and Davis should help form a solid leadership group. Add newcomers Aguillon and transfers Casey Hadaway and Brooke Judd, who helped Lansing Community College win an NJCAA national championship last season, and CMU could be a force to be reckoned with in the MAC. The Chippewa women made the USTFCCCA Preseason Poll for the Great Lakes Region, coming in at No. 15.
"They're grinders, they're tough," said Jenny Swieton, who took over head coaching duties in the women's cross country program after being named the university's director of track & field and cross country in early August. "They're just tough women who want to be successful, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to get there. We just need to keep working on progressing and if we get better every day, I think something great is going to happen."
They will get their next opportunity to build toward something great when the women's race, a 6K, starts at 11:40 a.m. Friday.
Swieton, a self-described "relational coach," said she is most effective when she digs in and gets to know each student- athlete as well as she possibly can.
"The longer I've coached, the more I've realized it's so much more than just knowing the science behind it, the X's and O's per say," she said. "You can have the perfect training plan and it's not going to work for everybody. Sometimes it can be the physical component, but if it's working for almost everyone else, it probably has to do with stress from a test they are taking soon or maybe they're out socializing too much or they need to get more sleep. So, if you get to know them and try to figure out what those other factors are, you can kind of see it before it happens."
As a very important figure in the track and field/cross country offices and the athletic department as a whole, Swieton understands that it's extremely important to have a vision for the program. Much like her coaching style, it is predicated on deep bonds.
"I want the student athletes that are currently here, 20 years down the road, to be able to say 'I started that.' I want to have such a tradition of sustainable success that each one of them can proudly say, 'I was part of the beginning.'
"I want people to be super proud of the Chippewas and what they are now and what they are going to become."
Players Mentioned
