By MAYAN PAZ
Tiger Media Network
Entering the later stages of the regular season, FHSU cross country Head Coach, Jason McCullough, spoke with Tiger Media Network about the team’s performance so far this season, their preparation for the home meet on Saturday, with a look into the offseason.
The team has competed in three races already this season, facing strong competition, including Division 1 schools. After racing at Wichita State University and Bethel College, the Tigers made an appearance in the prestigious Cowboy Jamboree Invite, hosted by Oklahoma State University on September 26.
The Tigres finished 10th in the women’s competition and 14th in the men’s, challenging athletes from some of the top long-distance teams in Division 1. Oklahoma State, BYU, New Mexico, Kentucky, and Oregon are just some of the programs that have raced on the hilly course at the OSU campus. The highest finisher for the women’s race was Emily McCullough, with a 19th-place finish, whereas in the men’s race, Christian Darrah was the Tigers’ top performer, finishing 47th.
Competing against unusual competition, McCullough said it’s hard to judge the athletes based on their final rank, but they have shown some positive signs considering the times they have registered.
“Our women ran about a minute per runner faster than they did two years ago, but they finished a lot lower because of the quality of the competition. So it’s really hard to judge that, but I think things are going in the right direction, and the men, too, ran slightly faster,” he said. “But we definitely want to see some big improvements at our home meet. So our home meet should be a fast course. I know everyone wants to run fast, and that’s the goal: to run fast and not be afraid to go out a little bit harder than normal.”
On Saturday, the team will host the FHSU Tiger Open. This time, they will not face Division 1 competition, but will host several teams from outside the Division 2 Central Region. This will be the final regular-season race for the Tigers, and they won’t be able to gain qualification points in the regional standings.
“Emporia State’s probably the only team from our region that will be here, but there’ll be some Colorado teams like Colorado Mines. We will not have any from the region teams other than Emporia State, but there should be some good competition, just not anything that’s going to help us as far as our region spots go,” McCullough said.
Looking forward, the Tigers are hoping to qualify as many athletes as possible for the national championships. In order to secure a team spot, the Tigers need to finish in a top 5 spot in the region. At the moment, the men’s team is out of contention, sitting 10th in the rankings, but the women’s team is ranked 6th, closely behind Nebraska-Kearney. Ranked No. 23rd in the nation, the women’s team is aiming for a spot in the national race.
McCullough spoke about the rankings.
“We are ranked sixth in the region, and we probably need to finish at least top five to be secure. A top-six finish might get us in. Last year, we finished sixth, and we were probably the first team out, so a top-five finish at the regional meet, especially since we haven’t seen a lot of Division two competition, is probably necessary,” he said. “So, unless we’re beating some of those teams that have already beaten a lot of other division twos, we’re gonna probably have to be in the top five. So gonna have to be peaking on the right day.”
The Tigers will race next to the Track and Field facility on the FHSU campus on Saturday. The men are first at 9:15 a.m., followed by the women at 10 a.m.