ANDERSON, S.C. – With success becoming the norm around the Anderson University cross country program, expectations are running high for the Trojans as they prepare to open the 2019 campaign on familiar ground, Friday evening at the Converse Kickoff Classic in Spartanburg, S.C.
And perhaps no one has higher expectations for the AU women's squad than third-year Head Coach Kevin Eagle. After posting back-to-back appearances in the NCAA National Championships, the Trojans have set the bar high as they head into the season. The Trojans, who won back-to-back SAC Championships in 2010 and 2011 have finished as runners-up at each of the last two SAC Championships following consecutive third-place finishes in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
"I'm putting pressure on them," said Eagle. "We have finished in the top two in conference and in the top three at the [NCAA] regional. I want to win the conference championship, I want to win regionals and I want to be a top-25 team in the country. Obviously we want to do better than top-25, but that's really the next step. With having such a good team, top-25 should be a realistic goal."
The Trojans made their first-ever appearance on the national stage in 2017 and as an encore, the Black and Gold notched their second consecutive appearance a season ago. Along with the success comes recognition, as AU was tabbed second in the 2019 South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll in late August and was ranked third in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) Preseason Southeast Region Poll last week.
"Each recruiting class is getting better and better and that has to play a factor in reaching our goals," noted Eagle. "The returning runners each year play a huge part in that. Runners want to come here. They want to be a part of something special."
For the casual fan, an initial glance at Eagle's roster - with eight newcomers, including seven true freshmen – would be misleading and might indicate an inexperienced squad donning the Black and Gold for the 2019 campaign.
But the Trojans feature eight returning letterwinners on their roster, including their top-five scorers from last season. A pair of juniors - Olivia Evans and Olivia Rish – who earned all-conference honors a season ago might be expected to shoulder the load early, however Eagle sees quality depth as one of this year's strengths, adding "in the past we've relied on a strong 5-7 runners, but this year I feel like with our top 10 we are going to be fine because I believe our 5-through-10 runners are pretty interchangeable, which is a good thing for the team as a whole. It's good to have depth because you're always going to be dealing with some injuries."
"We have a great group of girls coming back," Eagle added. "Just like the guys last year, a lot of our top girls had breakthrough track seasons last year. Now we are looking to carry over [that success] into the cross country season."
Alongside the eight returners, Eagle has bolstered the already-formidable depth with seven true freshmen and Kelsey Horner, a transfer from East Central (Oklahoma) University, who has one year of eligibility remaining.
"Nothing at all against our previous runners but on paper, I believe this is the best team we've had," said Eagle. "It will be so hard to replace [Abby] Bozarth but with the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 runners that have gotten better, it'll make losing Abby just a little bit easier. In cross country it takes 5-7 runners to be good, so yes, we lose our number 1 runner, but if our 2-thru-7 have gotten better then we should be okay."
Horner is expected to come in and have huge impact on the squad and is anticipated to be in the top three runners for the Trojans, while among the veterans, Evans has dealt with some injuries in the past, but is coming back fully healthy after capturing Second-Team All-Conference honors for the second straight year a season ago. Rish also earned Second-Team All-SAC accolades after posting a career-best effort at the conference championships and capped off an impressive freshman campaign by finishing third in the 1,500 meters at the SAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Junior Hannah Beach also ran well at the track championships - pacing four Trojans in the women's 5,000 meters and crossing the finish line in sixth place with a career-best effort. Sophomore Melea Sangl, one of AU's top freshman runners a year ago, returns for her sophomore season after being one of the Trojans top three runners.
"We're looking for her to get to the next level and for them to be all-conference and all region and really the backbone of our team," Eagle added. "And as an added bonus, no one in our top five are seniors."
A pair of true freshmen – Rebecca Ward and Aubrey Stoddard are expected to make an impact this season, as well.
"We recruited mid-distance heavily, so they'll have to grow and mature as distance runners in cross country," added Eagle. "But they'll have huge impacts come track season. We don't want to put too much pressure on this freshman class."
Schedule
The Trojans are slated to open the season at the at the Converse Kickoff Classic (Sept. 6) which will be hosted on the Milliken Research Center course in Spartanburg, S.C. AU hosted last season's conference championships on the course and nearly every prep runner in the Palmetto State has run the course, so familiarity will be a plus.
A week later the Trojans will venture to the Sunshine State to run in the University of Florida's Mountain Dew Invitational for the first time in program history.
"Gainesville will be a large meet for us," noted Eagle. "There will be a lot of big-time D-I and out-of-region D-II teams, along with a lot of Florida schools. We're excited to go there. We'll see competition there that we won't see elsewhere."
Two weeks later, the Trojans' will compete in Charlotte for the 10th time in 11 seasons, as the Black and Gold will take part in the Queen City Invite at McAlpine Park.
"It's a super-fast course," added Eagle. "Weather permitting, that's the PR course. It's the career PR course for nearly every runner who runs there. It's nice to get on a fast flat course. And from what I've seen, it looks to be similar to this year's NCAA National Championship course. So this year we need to be a lot faster - not tougher as far as hills - but speed. A lot of our workouts will be geared more toward speed than strength."
AU will close out the regular season by competing in the Georgia College Bobcat Invite for the first time.
"We wanted to take the team to a different course," Eagle said. "Seeing a different course and not going to same places each year makes it fun for both the runners and the coaching staff. It's over fall break and we won't be in any rush, so it should be fun."
The South Atlantic Conference Championships will be hosted by Wingate on October 26 at the Bulldogs' cross country facility.
"We want to do well," Eagle added. "Our goal on women's side is to win conference. Queens is the team to beat, but we have to start thinking bigger. The ultimate goal is to perform well at regionals to get to nationals, but if we can pick up a championship along the way, we'll take it. We want to get both the men's and women's teams to nationals."
Following the NCAA Southeast Regionals two weeks later at Wingate, the NCAA National Championships are slated for Sacramento, Calif.
"We'll go out the Tuesday or Wednesday before and get acclimated to the course. By the beginning of October we want to be starting to get the ball rolling. We'll use the Bobcat Invite as tune-up for the championships."
"This year we're putting an emphasis on leadership and pushing each other a little bit more, Eagle concluded. "The guys know what they have to do to get there [to nationals]. They've seen the teams that have made it and what those teams are doing. It's good to talk about getting to the next level, but we have to actually do it. "