Kayla Springer | The Echo
The men's and women's cross country teams have hit the ground running to start off the 2016-17 season. Both teams finished first at the Indiana Wesleyan Invite this past Friday. The men competed against 10 other teams and the women competed against 12 teams.
The women's team includes only six upperclassmen, including seniors Kathryn Gerig and Hannah Schroder, as well as juniors Alex Berends, Andi Foster, Lauren Melchers and Ellie Rodman.
Berends, a 2014 NAIA All-American and a 2015 All-League selection, is excited for all that the season has to offer.
"We have the makings of a great season this year," Berends said. "We have a lot of strong returners, and I love how the freshman class is meshing with our team dynamic already. This team has this great ability to be both extremely driven and focused on our goals, while at the same time have a lot of fun and laughter doing it."
In the most recent NAIA Top-25 Poll, the women secured the No. 7 spot, climbing up one spot from the previous ranking. However, head coach Quinn White is not getting too caught up in the rankings.
"Our biggest goal (this season) is to embrace the process to be successful," said White. "We will focus on a lot of little things that collectively are big. We feel like this will help set the foundation for things such as improvement and success. If we improve and are successful, then we will be happy with the outcome."
The women's head coach of seven seasons also added, "Our team word this year is 'Fire.' We have a variety of uses for the word, but its connection to passion is vital. I am proud of our start and excited to see what the future holds for us."
The men's team exhibits a larger returning group of upperclassmen, led by seniors Tanner Dye, Jordan Florian, Matt Hall and Aaron Scott. Juniors Joseph Beamish, Stephen Cho, Tyler Koteskey, Wes Noyes, Kyle Shelton and Jonathan Taylor round out the veteran group.
Hall was recently named Crossroads League Male Runner of the Week after claiming his third collegiate win at the 11-team Indiana Wesleyan Invite. That honor was solidified as Hall claimed the NAIA National Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week award.
The senior stated he would love to be in the top five individually at Nationals, but really hopes the team can glorify God through their excellence this year and enjoy the blessing of running competitively.
"We realize there is a lot of potential for this season," Hall said. "On paper, we are one of the best teams in the last 15 years at Taylor in terms of our times and the number of guys able to be in our top seven runners. However, anything can happen, so we are focusing on excellence and consistency, specifically by staying healthy. We would love to win conference, and we want to place higher at Nationals than we have in the recent years."
Head coach Lance Vanderberg had similar thoughts. "We have great depth and a hard-working group. I am very excited about our potential this season." Vanderberg also added the team is focusing on patience and consistency as they look toward the end of the season.
Despite a handful of injuries following training prior to the beginning of classes, the men's team still found success in the NAIA rankings, as the latest Top-25 Poll landed the Trojans in the No. 13 spot.
Hall commented that this susceptibility to injuries may be one of the team's major weaknesses this season, but that one of their greatest strengths will be the ability to combat those injuries as there are "a lot of guys capable of being in (the) top seven."
Both teams will compete next at the Cedarville Invite on September 17, with the men beginning at 9:30 a.m. and the women following at 10:15 a.m.
"Photograph provided by Alec Downing"
