Oracle Online

Even before the start of school, fall sports have kicked the intensity into high gear. The mens and womens cross country runners, like all the fall athletes, put in the time to try and stay ahead of the curve as the head into this season. The womens team will work hard to fill the void left by last year’s graduate, Keidra Anderson. Despite losing Anderson’s talent and leadership, the team looks to improve under coach Paul Schmaedeke, who also has the top job with the mens team. Schmaedeke, who already has sterling accomplishments with the mens team during his tenure, looks to provide the same stability for the womens team.

“We needed to do something to stabilize the womens program. There had been a number of coaching changes. We had had three different coaches in the last five or six years. That is not healthy for a program. When Dan asked if I’d consider the position, I said certainly, with the thought that I will be around and that we could stabilize it, improve our numbers, and become more competitive,” said Schmaedeke.

Although Schmaedeke’s addition to the womens program does represent a coaching change, its implications will likely unite the team. Student athletes of both gender will fall under the umbrella of Schmaedeke’s proven coaching abilities.

“The two most important things I tell the athletes are one, that they strive to be good people. They should respect the people around them, and in the community and work hard to be good people. Also, I expect a commitment on their part to becoming the best athlete that they can be. And that depends on your level of ability. But they are going to make that commitment to becoming the best they can be, and also to find a way to contribute to the team’s success,” said Schmaedeke.

With all the pieces now in place, the women’s team still has their work cut out for them. Replacing Keidra Anderson will be no easy task, but the team certainly is prepared.
“It requires your whole team to be better when you lose someone like Keidra. I think we will, in a lot of ways, be better. I think you’ll find out that our fifth, sixth, and seventh people are a lot closer and of higher quality than how they were a year ago. That will impact our team performance.”

With the transition into a new season, all signs so far are positive. Offseason workouts have yielded positive results. The teams first action of the year, the Alumni Meet, provided a solid start and helped inform coaches of things to come. “The Alumni Meet was a good start. I was pleased with a number of things that I saw on the womens side. I like what I saw from our first-years. Sophomore Emily Gable came back much improved from last year, as did [sophomore] Freya Fitzer. The Alumni Meet is really a time trial for us. A fitness test. It helps us to see where we are from the summer and also to plan some of the upcoming training,” said Schmaedeke.

Overall, things look good heading into the new season. Talent and leadership from Melissa Francis and Lacee Schrupp certainly will not hurt. Schmaedeke feels very confident in two of the teams’ leaders. “Melissa Francis had a very good track season and a very good cross country season last year. She has a chance to be one of the top runners in the conference, given good health and good training. Lacee Schrupp has also done that in the past; she can be one of the top folks in the conference. When I say that, I mean taking a shot in the top fifteen.”

When asked if the team’s youth would be a setback for the upcoming year, Schmaedeke had this to say, “You are always going to have youth. That is your future. But we have been blessed the past few years with great leadership. I feel like we are very well taken care of there. That is a very important part of your success, the quality of your leaders.”