Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams had highly successful seasons last year. The women finished seventh in NCAA Division II and won their first ever GNAC title, while the men’s team were invited to their first ever national meet.
This year the stakes are even higher. The women’s team come into this season ranked eighth nationally, and are the preseason favourites to win the GNAC title. The men, on the other hand, are ranked third in the GNAC preseason poll, and are the 25th ranked team nationally. For the women, it’s about staying focused amongst big expectations.
“I don’t think they’ll suffer from overconfidence,” said head coach Brit Townsend. “We are not going to be bringing our best team for the first couple of meets. Jennifer Johnson is just coming off a stress fracture, Addy Townsend is very anemic right now, and Peggy Noel is coming off an injury [. . .] these first meets can be a really good chance to find out how the new recruits are doing, and what kind of shape the returning people are in.”
The men aim to match the same high level as the women, and coach Townsend is very confident that they can achieve that. “They are extremely motivated, and their goal is to make it to the national championship. We have some great new additions this year, we have Dallas Barker, Carlos Vargas, Rowan Dockerty, who is a triathlete from the island, and Shawn Miller. So I’m excited to see how that all works together. It will be very competitive to see who will be in our top seven… it’s going to be interesting to see where our men can get to this year.”
The biggest loss for the team will be Lindsey Butterworth, last year’s co-female athlete of the year at SFU. “Obviously she was a great asset to our program over the years, and we’re sorry that she’s done. But I’m also excited about her future.” Her leaving the team will be a big void to fill, but coach Townsend is hopeful that new recruits will “develop to the level that she’s been at.”
The team’s first meets will be at Seattle University on September 19th.
