ACU Cross Country Preview

Special by Don Garrett

2012 Cross Country Review: ACU

This will be a very strange season for ACU. There is probably no way that they will be contenders on the men’s or women’s side. ACU released their distance/XC coach after last season (he is now at Claflin in South Carolina) and was not able to procure a replacement until the 2^nd week of the current school year. ACU will have enough people to field a team of 5 at most meets, if they do not have any injuries whatsoever. On paper, they have 7 men and 6 women on the roster, with several people in each gender being walk-ons. New XC coach, Chris Ward, has a big task ahead of him, but he had success at NAIA Oklahoma City University, so he should be up to the task.

MEN – finished 2^nd in 2011 with 68 points, a full 40 points behind ENMU and 31 points ahead of TAMU-C. Both of those squads come back loaded this year.

LOST FROM LAST SEASON

·         Fabian Wessel-Terharn – had a great XC season, placing 5^th in the LSC, but was injured the entire track season, only placing 11^th in the steeple at conference and heading home to Germany after the season for good

·         Spencer Lynn – coming back from a serious injury, he placed 11^th at the LSC XC meet, then sustained another serious injury between the indoor and outdoor season and looks like he is gone for good from the program

·         Will Pike – 17^th in the conference XC meet, he finished a disappointing 9^th in the 10K on the track after finishing 4^th in both the 5K and 10K in 2011

·         Marshall Holland – 19^th at XC meet last fall, he had already left the program by last spring

·         Daniel Gliemar – 45^th at the LSC XC meet, he ran a very poor 12^th in the 1500 and 27^th in the 5K – after the outdoor season he headed back to Sweden as well

·         Trey Knight – 64^th in the XC meet and did not run track in the spring

·         Jake Schofield – redshirted XC, then placed 8^th in the conference steeple (after finishing 5^th in 2011) – apparently passed up his last year of eligibility as a grad student to take a high-paying job – imagine that

RETURNEES

·         Erik Forrister – 16^th in the XC season, he just missed scoring at the LSC track meet, finishing 9^th in the 5K and 11^th in the 10K – a strong XC man

·         Gary Duncan – 51^st in the XC season and only 34^th in the LSC 5K on the track

·         James Grantham – 63^rd in XC – immense potential, but has never been able to put that potential to work while at ACU – not sure if he has any eligibility left for XC, but he is listed on the roster

·         Banjo Jaiyesimi – did not run XC conference in 2011, but was 3^rd in the 800 and 8^th in the 1500 at the LSC track meet – more of a 400/800 man than a distance runner, but he will need to run for sure to fill out the squad

NEWCOMERS

·         Xavier King – freshman from Ajax, Ontario, Pickering HS – a serious candidate for Freshman of the Year in the conference – at the Ontario provincial championships in 2012, he won the 2000 steeple (yep, they run the steeple in HS in Canada), was 3^rd in the 1500 and 4^th in the 5K. His 2000 steeple time would have won the Texas Relays HS Inv steeple by over 10 seconds – I found a 3:52 1500 and 8:23 3K time – this kid is good

·         Taylor Ochs – freshman from Midland Christian HS – 32^nd in the TAPPS 4A XC and 3^rd in the TAPPS 4A 800 last spring. Also 3^rd in the Texas Tech HS Inv Indoor 800, so he has some indoor experience.

·         Christopher John – Keller HS – JV squadman at KHS

WOMEN – ACU finished in unfamiliar territory at the LSC meet, finishing 4^th, only 3 points behind 3^rd place Angelo State and 5 points ahead of ENMU. Most of their team is back, but they didn’t add any additional firepower to last’s years team and they have one notable subtraction from the squad. Looks like they may fall another place or 2 in 2012.

LOST FROM LAST SEASON

·         Chloe Susset is on campus, but apparently not eligible for the fall – she was the conference runnerup in XC in 2011, then came back to win the steeple and the 1500 and finishing 2^nd in the 5K to rack up 28 points at the conference track meet – the most dominant distance runner in the LSC

RETURNEES

·         Alyse Goldsmith – Sr - arguably the best distance runner in the LSC in 2010-11 (when she was 2^nd in the XC Meet and won the 5K/10K on the track), she is still right at the top of the LSC. Last year, she was 3^rd in the XC meet and then 3^rd in the 10K and 4^th in the 5K last spring. Should still be right at the top of the LSC.

·         Ayesha Rumble – Sr - 18^th in the XC meet, she came back to place 2^nd in the LSC 800 and 5^th in the 1500 on the track – she is also on the ACU 4x400 relay, showing great versatility

·         Emily Hill – So - finished a disappointing 59^th in the conference XC meet, but came back last spring to finish 4^th in the LSC 800

·         Mariah Welty-Kile – So – military vet who ran pretty well last fall, finishing 29^th at the LSC XC meet, but did not run on the track in the spring

·         Rachel Belcher – Jr – 67^th at the LSC XC meet, but did not run in the spring on the track

·         Kayla Calvert – Jr – she placed 6^th in the LSC pole vault in 2011, but has apparently switched over to distances after training with the distance runners all last spring

NEWCOMERS – none, since there was no one to recruit distance runners at ACU in the late spring/summer – I imagine ACU may pick up a distance runner or 2 at mid-term, but that won’t help the XC team