2008 season preview

September 4, 2008

NORTON, MA- Youth and vast diversity in hometown locale among the student-athletes are obvious characteristics of the Wheaton College men's and women's cross country rosters, and both collections of harriers seek to fulfill 10th-year head coach Paul Carr's belief that each squad is capable of improving upon last year's standing at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship.

The Lyon cross country teams continue to field relatively green lineups in 2008, as 17 underclassmen will suit up, while the 27 men's and women's runners at the school represent 14 states and one foreign country. Carr draws parallels between the athletic and academic worlds for the coming season.

"If the season was like a college class, we'd only be graded on a couple races," said Carr. "The NEWMAC Championship is like our midterm, and the Division III New England meet is like our final. Our first few races count, but not as much as our last few races."

Carr said the teams began practicing on August 23, and it can take nearly two months for the runners to fully progress, putting the athletes on pace to peak come time for the championship races. That might include the NCAA Championship on November 22 at Hanover College in Indiana should any Lyons qualify. The league meet is slated to be run on November 1 in Boston's Franklin Park, while the Lyons will compete at the Division III New England Championship on November 15 at Williams College.

"The tricky thing is juggling runners from NEWMACs to the regional to nationals, where we're talking about a three- or four-week period," said Carr. "We have to manage what they do, bring them down and hope they peak for NEWMACs. But we have to be careful; if they peak too much right at NEWMACs, they might do poorly at the regional. If we don't bring them down enough, they might blow up at NEWMACs but run great at the regional."

Fifteen runners from 10 different states comprise the women's team, though only three have run for more than one year at the college level. The squad took second at the 2007 NEWMAC Championship, but Carr thinks the team's first league crown since 2004 is within reach.

"My expectations never change; it doesn't matter who comes in or goes out," said Carr. "We aim to win the NEWMAC and push as many runners as possible to the NCAA Championship, and see what we can do for academic All-Americans, All-Americans and team academic awards. We have a young group, but they're headed in a positive direction under strong upperclassman leadership."

Carr is joined by fifth-year assistant coach Kim Spence '04, a track and field All-American during her Wheaton career. The duo believes there are a handful of harriers on the squad talented enough to qualify for the NCAA Championship, and if the athletes meet predetermined milestones throughout the season, then the entire team would be in good position to qualify for the national race.

"We've set a goal for each meet to close the gap between the first runner and seventh runner," said Carr, who added that the team's top seven is ever in flux. "Typically with us, it's a very fluid situation, and we prefer to keep it fluid. I think it's a way we can keep everybody involved and focused positively on trying to get in that group. One day our number-one runner could run third, and the other runners are expected to pick her up."

Amanda Rawson (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) and Lauren Reddy (Walnut Creek, CA/Carondelet) headline the senior class, as each earned all-region and all-conference laurels last fall, with Rawson finishing third at the NEWMAC Championship. An all-conference track and field athlete, Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School) has twice turned in top-20 finishes at the league meet and returns after spending last fall abroad.

Track and field All-American Natana Jules (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) and Megan O'Sadnick (Evergreen, CO/Evergreen) round out the senior contingent, as O'Sadnick will compete for the first time since her freshman season, and Jules joins the squad for her initial campaign. Junior Sarah Brand (Cincinnati, OH/Seven Hills School), a 2007 NEWMAC Academic All-Conference qualifier, returns for her second year with the program.

Of the four sophomores, only Erin Jaske (Highlands Ranch, CO/Rock Canyon) and Christina Nelson (Cranston, RI/Saint Mary Academy-Bay View) have college experience, with Sasha Arnesen (Whitehouse Station, NJ/Gill Saint Bernard's School) and Lindsey Nielsen (Sandy, UT/Juan Diego Catholic) competing for the first time.

Wheaton's freshman class includes three New Englanders, with Monica Black (North Kingstown, RI/North Kingstown), Savannah Geasey (Portsmouth, RI/Portsmouth), Maryellen Groot (Reading, MA/Reading Memorial), Kimberly Nash (Tempe, AZ/McClintock) and Rachel Scavera (North Bend, OR/North Bend) comprising the quintet.

Unlike the women's squad, the Lyon men have a relative balance among its returning runners, with four upperclassmen and five sophomores lending experience to the team. Following a fifth-place finish at the NEWMAC Championship last season, Carr expects a stronger showing.

"We'll be much better," said Carr. "We've set a team goal to be at least top three, and there are some athletes who might contend to win the individual title. A lot of the men in the sophomore class have developed and put in the work this summer. For some of our runners, it's realistic to talk about being all-region and making it to the NCAAs, but they need to succeed on the NEWMAC level first."

Six states and one foreign country are represented among Wheaton's 12 competitors. Seniors Scott Hafferkamp (Merrimack, NH/Merrimack) and Dan Libon (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) and juniors Andrew Brunhofer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) and Miles Souza (Norton, MA/Saint Sebastian's School) are the Lyons' upperclassman contingent. Hafferkamp is a two-time NEWMAC Academic All-Conference qualifier, while Souza landed on that team last fall.

A more seasoned sophomore class returns to campus after carrying much weight in 2007. Matt Brousseau (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) and Nick Kacher (Waltham, MA/Waltham) were Wheaton's top finisher three and four times, respectively, while Brousseau missed the final all-conference spot at the NEWMAC Championship by five seconds. Colin Fahey (Waltham, MA/Weston), Natan Levy (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Pine Crest School) and Brandon Waltz (South Thomaston, ME/Rockland District) will continue to contribute as sophomores.

Freshmen Sean Astle (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Ludlowe) and Todd Woodworth (Weston, MA/Middlesex School) each hail from New England, while classmate Onyedikachi Udeoji (Lagos, Nigeria/Atlantic College) grew up in Nigeria before attending high school in Wales.

Wheaton's season begins on Saturday at the Amherst College Invitational before the Lyons attend the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth Invitational on September 20 and the Keene State Invitational on October 4. Both the All New England Championship on October 11 and Saints Invitational on October 17 will occur in Franklin Park, a prelude to the league meet being held on that course in November.

From the outset, Carr already knows a league championship and either program's first appearance at the NCAA meet will not be possible without an entire team effort. "We're not like other sports; we can't call a timeout and make a sub if someone's having a bad day," said Carr. "We have to have seven cylinders firing at once on the same day to be successful."

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