11/06/07It might have taken the runners a little more time than expected to cross the finish line at the Heart of America Athletic Conference meet a few weeks ago, but they made up for it Saturday at the Region V cross country meet in Lamoni, Iowa.
The Baker University men’s and women’s cross country teams recorded seven season best times at the meet to conclude what head coach Zach Kindler called a “roller-coaster season.”
“I’m glad we ended the way we did,” he said. “After the conference meet, I know not only was I disappointed, but the team was disappointed with the way we did. The regional meet showed us we could run a lot stronger.”
Lone senior Andrew McGregor finished his cross country career in style, recording his season best time of 28:41.
Freshman Chris Scheideman, who recorded his lifetime best of 28:49, said the team focused on running relaxed for its last meet of the season.
“We were a lot more relaxed going into the meet and the course wasn’t as hard as the conference course,” he said. “We were disappointed coming out of conference and wanted to do well. It was a lot better meet from top to bottom.”
Junior Zac Towns continued the trend, recording his lifetime best of 28:59, beating his previous record by over a minute. Freshmen Justin Hill and Nick Wagoner jumped on the bandwagon and helped the team of five finish within 47 seconds of each other. Hill recorded his lifetime best of 29:26.
“We’ve improved a lot,” Scheideman said. “We ran really well as a pack and just ran really well together.”
Kindler said he’s happy with the way the team finished its season and is looking forward for the years to come with the young team.
“I’m excited for the future of Baker cross country,” he said. “We’re very young, with having everyone but Andrew return. We’ve got a solid recruiting class coming in, and we’ll continue to improve. It’s tough to say exactly where we’ll be, but we’re headed in the right direction.”
Junior Amber Keith, who ran her season best time of 20:18, led the women. She placed 13th and led the team to seventh overall.
Kindler said freshman Mary Loveland improved greatly from the conference meet and finished her first college season with a time of 20:49.
Loveland said the team members ran well as a whole, due to the rest their legs had over the past week.
“We backed off a lot on workouts,” she said. “We gave our legs time to recover. We were still running, but it was a lot more relaxed and I think that helped a lot.”
Freshman Kelsey Heckathorne also recorded her lifetime best of 20:58. Freshman Linda Rodriguez and junior Ari Penner finished out the top five.
Loveland said although the season had its ups and downs, the team learned a lot along the way.
“We kept improving,” she said. “There were weeks on and off that we were tired, but coach gave us rest at the end. We got a chance to recover and we finished the season strong.”
The Wildcats will continue training, as they will be participating in a half marathon in Baton Rouge, La., Dec. 1. The half marathon, which consists of 13 miles, is an outdoor track and field national event for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Kindler said although the team is running the half marathon for fun, he expects some of the members to do well, and possibly qualify for nationals.
“I want to look at it as not an obstacle but as a challenge,” he said.