MAC Championships Beckon CMU Cross Country Runners

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The biggest meet of the season is next for the Central Michigan cross country teams.

The Chippewas will partake in the Mid-American Conference Championships on Saturday at Ottawa Park Golf Course in Toledo, Ohio. Toledo is the host institution.

The women's race, comprising 122 runners representing 12 schools, is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. The men's race, with 90 runners representing nine schools, is set to start at noon.

Last season the CMU men finished seventh with Like Anderson placing 12^th, earning Second Team All-MAC honors. The Chippewa women placed sixth with Megan O'Neil coming in fifth to claim First Team All-MAC accolades.

Eastern Michigan is the defending champion in both genders.

RANKINGS
The Central Michigan men's team is ranked 12^th in the Great Lakes Region. Miami (Ohio) is the highest regionally ranked men's team in the MAC at No. 7. Bowling Green is ranked 13^th.

The CMU women dropped out of the regional rankings after being ranked 15^th prior to Pre-Nationals two weeks ago in Madison, Wis.

Four MAC women's teams are regionally ranked: No.7 Eastern Michigan, No. 8 Miami, No. 10 Toledo, and No. 12 Western Michigan.

IMPORTANCE
CMU coaches Matt Kaczor and Jenny Swieton agree that the MAC Championships is a very important race, maybe the most important of the season.

With both squads having had success throughout the season, both said they expect their respective teams to turn in a strong performance on Saturday.

"I think everything is coming together the way we want it to," Swieton said. "Everything that happened at Pre-Nationals happened. It's just a matter of taking the lessons we've learned throughout the season and applying them to MAC as well as taking the confidence that they've gained and go and live in the moment of the race and be engaged the whole time and be the best we can be that day."

Said Kaczor: "This is the time to see where (the team) is at. They're in good spirits. After Pre-Nats, we've had some honest moments, and I think they're as ready as they can be at this point. I love this group, they've worked their tails off. But now, it's just putting it together. And that's ultimately what we're trying to do, see if we can show up on Saturday at Toledo."

SWIETON
"I think the biggest thing for us is just to go in and do our absolute best. If everybody gives everything they possibly can, then good things can happen. But, we could all have (personal records) and run out of our minds and not win. So, if we go in there and everybody runs the absolute best that they can, I think we can definitely have an improvement on our finish last year and hopefully it's a significant one."

KACZOR
"I clearly want to be competitive. But if the guys are giving me everything they have, how can you complain? So, we got to focus on what we can do to give ourselves the best chance to have the best team finish. And I think the guys have been all semester long to make sure our plan comes into fruition on Saturday. If it does, we should be much better than what we've shown the past few years at the conference meet."

DEPTH
The CMU men's team will have walk-on Junior Zachary Sleeman join the team for the race. Sleeman ran for the CMU club cross country team and posted an 8K time of 25:37 earlier this season.

Sieeman is the third runner who has moved from the club cross country team to the varsity. The others are Taylor Aguillon, who graduated in 2017, and senior Erin Zdrojewski.

NEXT
The Chippewas head to Terre Haute, Ind. on Friday, Nov. 9 to run in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Taylor Aguillon