After disappointing seasons for the UW-Eau Claire men’s and women’s cross country teams last year, the teams are hoping for rebounds this coming season.
Men’s coach Scott Steuernagel said that a lack of effort was a reason for the disappointing season.
“The returning juniors didn’t put in the needed work,” he said. “They decided other things were more important than this team. We underachieved.”
After qualifying for nationals two years ago, the Blugolds ended up sixth at the WIAC conference meet and ninth at qualifying for nationals.
Seniors Rich Maleniak and Kevin Larson are gone from the team after using up their eligibility.
A strong team nucleus will be back this year. They will be led by senior James Larson.
James Larson had mononucleosis, and was forced to miss the outdoor track season. Steuernagel said he has been “running impressively in practice.”
With the return of this nucleus coach Steuernagel expects to finish in the top three in conference and top 10 nationally if they “put in the needed work”.
As for the women’s team, coach Tracy Yengo credited its disappointing season to the team being young and nervous.
They ended the season with a fifth place finish in the WIAC cross country championships and a ninth place finish in qualifying for the national championships.
Yengo has strong expectations for this coming season. She expects the team to finish in the top four in conference and top three at nationals.
All their athletes are returning from last season. The top returning athletes are junior Sara Pavek, sophomore Melissa Wright and junior Karin Diestelmeier, who went to nationals last year..
Diestelmeier will be out for a month. She had surgery on her shoulder this past summer and was unable to train during the offseason.
Coach Yengo described Diestelmeier as the “type of runner who can step right back in without surgery”.
If everything works out as expected, both teams should be qualifying for nationals this year. The season starts on Sept 8 for both teams.
The men’s team will be at the Luther All-American in Decorah, Iowa.
The women’s team will start competitionat University of Minnesota-Duluth.
