Chippewas Head To Michigan State

Nick Vuylsteke, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- The Central Michigan cross country team will be head to East Lasing on Friday to run at the Auto Owners/Playmakers Spartan Invitational at Forest Akers Golf Course. The men's race begins at 11:40 a.m. while the women's race begins at 12:15 p.m.

The men's team will be running their first 8K race and the women will be running their first 6K race of the season. The Chippewas opened two weeks ago with their Jeff Drenth Memorial, a 5K.

There are several runners on both teams who have not competitively run a race of those distances. Four out of the five Chippewa male runners slated to race on Friday have never run a collegiate 8K.

The event comprised 33 teams. The Michigan State women are ranked 15^th, the men are 24^th.

FOCUS ON THE YOUTH

CMU men's coach Matt Kaczor said three of his top runners, sophomores Logan Kleam and Conor Naughton along with junior Luke Anderson, will not run on Friday. CMU senior Megan O'Neil, who won the Drenth two weeks ago, also will not run.

For both CMU squads, the race will serve as an opportunity to gain experience and as a gague.

"I run more of my younger crowd in this one so they can get their taste of what their first 8K feels like," Kaczor said. "You're adding three kilometers onto what they've done in high school."

"The freshman haven't run a 6K before, and I know it's only 1K more (than the Drenth), but some of them are a little intimidated by the distance," CMU women's coach Jenny Swietson said.

STRATEGY
Swieton said her women's team plans to use an interesting racing strategy to see where their team is at.

"We're making three groups (of runners) and we're pack running it," she said. "I think we need a little bit more of a structured race plan. This scenario is to just kind of get them use to college racing.

"Each group will have an upperclassman that will be leading that group and kind of helping those women pull through the race and accomplish what they want to accomplish in the race."

On the men's side, Kaczor said the Chippewas plan to maintain a tight pack "for a certain period of time, and then it'll be every man for themselves.

"We're trying to get guys to that point to where the race starts to get difficult, and then they'll have to make a decision if you're going to back down from that pain or if they're going to fight through it."

KACZOR
"I'm not so fixated on a time. My goal is how close to 60 seconds can we have with the gap between our one (first runner who finishes) and our five (fifth runner who finishes). If we can be close to something along the lines of 60 to 70 seconds with our one and five, I would consider that a huge success."

SWEITON
"We're just trying to get through the race with a positive frame of mind. I think if we can finish the day where they can feel mostly good about what they did and they feel like they can accomplish something, that's what we're trying to do."

NEXT
The Chippewas go to the Joe Piane Invitational at Notre Dame on Friday, Sept. 28.

Central Michigan University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Luke Anderson

Logan Kleam

Conor Naughton

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