And so it begins.
With their first meet Saturday, the men’s and women’s cross country teams are eager to start the year on a positive note at the Miami Invitational.
The RedHawks will be unveiling a new cross country course, but the Bobcat women are determined to carry over their success from last season, as third-place finishers at the 2012 Mid-American Conference Championship.
“We feel like a top three team in the MAC,” coach Clay Calkins said. “We know what kind of team it takes to win.” Calkins believes Toledo and Miami are the biggest threats for the top spot in the conference.
Senior Juli Accurso is one of the main reasons Calkins is optimistic.
Entering her fourth year with the program, Accurso is already a two-time All-American and an individual MAC Champion. She holds the program record of 20:07 and came in first at the 2012 NCAA Great Lakes Regional.
“(Juli) is a natural leader, and they look to her for guidance,” said Calkins.
He also noted that fifth-year senior Ashley Waddington, senior Melissa Thompson and junior Morgan Reichert have helped bring the team together to form a close-knit group.
Miami’s women’s team will be competing for the first time this season after closing the 2012 campaign with a second-place finish at the MAC Championships, just one spot ahead of the Bobcats.
The leading RedHawk runner is junior Jess Hoover, who was the team’s top finisher last season at the Great Lakes Regional.
As for the men, the meet will be a test to see where the Bobcats stand with the rest of the conference.
Calkins said it would be “an honest goal” to finish fifth in the MAC this season, despite the preseason coaches poll placing the Bobcats in seventh.
The success of the program could depend on a pair of sophomores, Jacob Stephens and Jarrod Genther.
“Stephens has made great strides into becoming a great leader,” said Calkins, who also considers Genther a “top recruit.”
Another leader is junior Chase Robinson, who is coming back from an injury.
Regarding this weekend’s season opener, Calkins said he would take his top squads to Oxford to get a better handle on the path that lies ahead.
“The first few weeks tell the tale,” he said.
This weekend will be Miami’s second meet of the year, after the RedHawks finished third out of seven teams in the Dayton 5K Challenge last week.
After leading Miami and finishing as an overall runner-up last weekend, senior Dave Wing was named the Mid-American Conference men’s runner of the week on Wednesday.
He received the honors for the second time in his career after finishing just 1.1 seconds behind the race’s winner.
gh181212@ohiou.edu
@charliehatch_
