By MAYAN PAZ
Tiger Media Network
Cross country season is here, and Fort Hays State is gearing up for its season opener at Wichita State on Saturday. Head Coach Jason McCullough spoke about the team’s preparation, newcomers, and expectations.
“In the first few meets, we really want to just get the tone started off right. So we want to get there and be fairly fresh, set a good tone, and see good, improved performances from last year and good marks from the freshmen that get to compete,” he said.
The team had a short training camp in Codell just before the semester started, which was utilized for team bonding and expectation setting. As the start of the season is only a few weeks after the start of the semester, this time is an important opportunity for the athletes to put some extra work in, and for the team’s newcomers to impress the coaching staff.
McCullough pointed out freshmen Esther Clark-Pavlovich and Eva Cortez on the women’s team and Hayden Nemchek and Taran Castro on the men’s team as individuals who clocked some of the fastest times in the team during their pre-season time trial, and are expected to stand out early.
He said that the training camp was a great experience for the team.
‘We spent a day there with the men and then a day with the women. And we set some team goals, we set some expectations. We decided what we needed to focus on and what we needed to cut out of our lives to be good, and it was just a great opportunity to serve each other,” McCullough said. “They cooked for each other, they played some games, they did some running, and it was just a good team building.”
The men’s team was picked eighth preseason poll and hopes to perform better than their rank during the season. Junior Noah Morenz and senior Christian Darrah are expected to lead the way during the cross country season as some of the most talented and experienced runners on the team.
Led by Emily Diercks, the FHSU women were picked third in the preseason coaches poll.
Diercks, a senior from Hoxie, is a national qualifier both in cross country and the 10,000-meter race in the outdoor track season.
Races at Wichita State University and Oklahoma State University will be the highlight of the regular season for the Tigers, before reaching the championship stage of the year.
McCullough stated that despite wanting to have good results at the start of the season, the goal is to reach peak performance toward the MIAA championship.
“I am definitely looking for high performance all the time, but I understand our main goal is October and early November,” he said. “So the first few meets, we really want to just get the tone started off right.”
The Tigers will open their season at the JK Gold Classic on Saturday in Wichita.