KCAC Men’s Cross Country Pre-Season look
By Jordy Train
Cross Country in the KCAC has been dominated by Southwestern College since before my parents even met. SC has done so well in fact, that the men are in pursuit of their 30th straight KCAC title this fall.
The Moundbuilders had some trouble with depth this past season, and disregarding this years incoming freshman class, which is unknown to me so far (which is the same with all the other schools), depth seems to be one of the few issues that could keep Southwestern from #30. The Builders only 4th year runner on the squad last fall was Jess Eberle (Glen Elder, Ks), a four-time All-KCAC performer with a pr of 25:38. Fortunately, Andrew Topham (Peabody. Ks), fresh off an All-American performance in Cross Country and a 9th place finish in the 10k at the NAIA National Track meet, will be returning for his junior season to lead the builders once again. Zack Conroy (Wichita) and Jimmy Bryant (Cleveland, Ok) will be leading the team as the two seniors on the squad, and Carrington Crum (Valley Center) will be moving into the upper echelon of the field after a great improvement throughout the indoor and outdoor track seasons.
If depth doesn’t stop the Builders this season, there still is a chance that someone will in fact be able to beat them outright. The Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes have been building a strong core of Junior College transfers the past two years, consisting of Jeremy Davies, Michael Rascon, and Robert McClung all returning for their senior years, and Peter Madrigal, a junior who did not run Cross Country last year, but ran some great times during Track. K-Dub has also just recently signed Nathan Mesta from Morgan State University, who is a 4:17 miler and multi-state champion from Arizona. This combined with a few home-grown talents (Paul Minneman, Solomon, 5th place finisher at Conference last year, and Tyler Jensen, Ellsworth) gives the Coyotes plenty of ammunition to fire at the Builders long-standing streak.
Another team on the rise is Friends University. They only lose one senior from their entire team, and were very close to getting their top group of runners to the next level last fall. It will be exciting to watch them develop in the results column throughout this season.
Crum isn’t the only sophomore that greatly improved throughout his freshman campaign. Oliver Williams from McPherson College cranked himself up to being one of the favorites in the KCAC at 800 and 1500 meters, but then no-showed at the conference meet. Lane Porter from Friends discovered a similar fate. Perhaps these two were just off in the adjustment of their bodies to their first years of collegiate competition, but regardless I expect to see all three of these men finish in the top ten this fall barring other injuries/outside circumstances.
Projected Top 10:
1. Andrew Topham, Southwestern
2. Zack Conroy, Southwestern
3. Peter Madrigal, Kansas Wesleyan
4. Carrington Crum, Southwestern
5. Nathan Mesta, Kansas Wesleyan
6. Paul Minneman, Kansas Wesleyan
7. Oliver Williams, McPherson
8. Jeremy Davies, Kansas Wesleyan
9. Lane Porter, Friends
10. Conner Drendel, Southwestern
Honorable Mention:
Michael Rascon, Kansas Wesleyan
Jimmy Bryant, Southwestern
Shaun Griffin, McPherson
Zach Bailor, Friends
Zac Remboldt, Tabor
Currently, I will not give in-depth team rankings since I know so little about each team’s new freshman class, but just by tallying up my projected top 10, Southwestern beats Kansas Wesleyan 29-33. I have to give the edge to SC over KW thus far, because it’s really hard to bet against 29 years in a row. Without looking at new freshmen, KW’s depth trumps SC’s just barely, but an injury from either team’s top five will almost definitely send the other one home with the championship plaque. I’m looking forward to watching this season pan out; especially knowing it’s going to be a dog fight all the way down to when the 5th man crosses the line.