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Preview: Huge buzz surrounds Shorter's XC squads in 2011
By Jim O'Hara
ROME – They will start the new season regarded as two of the top programs in the nation.
For head coach Jay Stephenson, however, the 2011 Shorter University men and women’s cross country squads have already proven just how good they are to those who count – themselves.
“When we held our annual preseason retreat Boone, N.C., this year that was the most fun five days I’ve ever had with the team,” Stephenson said about the Hawks, who are ranked No. 4 nationally in the NAIA preseason poll, and the Lady Hawks, who just missed breaking into the Top 25 with 77 votes. “It was almost surreal – there were no problems at all. It was awesome. They are close to each other and they care about each other.
“At this point, the main thing is to be healthy and if we stay healthy all year I feel we’ll do pretty well.”
When the Hawks and Lady Hawks toe the starting line for the first time this season back in Boone on Friday for the Labor Day Covered Bridge Open, both squads will endure immediate tests as each squad will be without a national champion runner.
Gone by way of graduation is five-time national champion Justyna Mudy, who won back-to-back cross country titles for the Lady Hawks in 2009 and 2010 – she won her other three crowns on the track – and Paul Chelimo, who opted to transfer to North Carolina-Greensboro after finishing third at the NAIA national cross country meet last fall as a freshman before winning three national championships on the track.
Stephenson believes that despite the departures, the Hawks and Lady Hawks can turn in their best seasons to date.
Judging from their lofty preseason ranking, the men have already started down that successful path.
“We’re going to be a ton better than last year,” said Stephenson. “The recruiting class we brought in is hands down the best we’ve ever had. The main thing about this year’s team is that we’re already the closest team I’ve ever coached.
“The guys click together, they’re all focused together and all are spiritually together.”
Expected to carry the banner for the Hawks will be Eliud Ng'etich, a junior from Eldoret, Kenya, who is looking to improve on his 36th place individual finish at the national championship meet in 2010.
Three seniors also bring experience and leadership to the team – Peter Limo from Eldoret, Kenya, Nicolas Toscan from Monaco and Allen O’Neal of Barnesville. Limo and Toscan will serve as the team captains.
“Nicolas has a passion and Peter is the most experienced,” Stephenson said of the pair. “You couldn’t ask for a better combination.”
Junior Louis Fields from Prattville, Ala., adds to Shorter’s veteran list, and although his cross country eligibility has been used, former standout Oscar Ogwaro will train with the team and add support as he prepares for his senior indoor and outdoor tracks seasons in the spring.
With the experience well in place, the Hawks sealed the deal on what could potentially be one of the strongest teams in the program’s history with a top group of recruits that is headed by three transfers and anchored by four talented freshmen.
Coming across the country are a pair junior transfers, Raymond Dominguez and Carlos Perez, who have run successfully for the past two seasons at San Bernadino Community College in California where Dominguez posted a runner-up finish at the state junior college championships and Perez was clocked at a personal best 14:51 in the 5K.
Daniel Sorenson also joins the Hawks as a junior transfer from McPherson College (Kan.), where the Lakewood, Calif., native was a two-time NAIA All-American in the steeplechase at the national outdoor meet.
Speed is the common bond among Shorter’s freshmen. Evans Tanui of Kenya has run an 8:35 in the 3K on the high school level, Cory Cown of Grayson High School boasts a 4:36 mile and 16:36 5K and Derek Douglas of Hiram High School, who Stephenson says has already developed into a team leader, and Joseph Land of Sonoraville High have plenty of potential.
The Lady Hawks have talent that just about mirrors the men.
Having said farewell to Mudy, who closed out her career at Shorter as the university’s most decorated female athlete, the Lady Hawks are determined to keep the team in the national spotlight using the combination of experience and newcomers.
“We’ve got a great group,” Stephenson said about the women. “Just like the men, the women have never had a team this close. Their greatest attribute is that they’re all strong in faith.”
Assuming the role as the Lady Hawks’ lone senior is Sarah Massey of Acworth,
Shorter's highest returning national finisher after she placed 85th in last fall's national championship meet.
“She’s ready to be a leader,” Stephenson said.
A pair of new faces fill the roster as juniors, as Rachel McDaniel of Spokane, Wash., comes to Shorter after transferring in from Community College of Spokane, and although she is not new to Shorter, junior Sha'Doris Godwin, who starred for the Lady Hawks’ track and field team that placed third at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championship in May, will offer her running skills to the cross country team this fall.
Good things comes in threes for the Lady Hawks when it comes to the team’s sophomore class as three runners who excelled last year as first-year runners bring back their talents.
Chantelle Deacon from British Columbia, Canada, Katie Rutledge of Taylorsville and Shea Spicher from Grayson all return after helping Shorter claim a second-place finish at last year’s Southern States Athletic Conference championships.
Two more transfers add some punch to the Lady Hawks’ lineup.
Sophomore Cassadee Ainsworth, a former standout at nearby Pepperell High who ran at Georgia Tech last year, returns home, while Breiona Badie comes to Shorter after starting her career at Darton Junior College in Albany.
A pair of freshmen round out the roster: Ashley Logan of Jasper joins the team in the wake of a solid prep career at Pickens County High and Hannah Turner from LaFayette arrives on The Hill after running at LaFayette High where she was also that school’s valedictorian.
Following Shorter’s run in Boone, the two teams remain in Rome on Sept. 10 to compete across town in the Berry Invitational.
