CMU men’s cross-country races for first time since Sept. 30

The Central Michigan men’s cross-country team gets back to racing on Sunday when they compete in pre-nationals in Terre Haute, Ind.

The Chippewas haven’t raced since Sept. 30 at Notre Dame because the team pulled out of the Michigan Intercollegiate Championship last weekend because of injuries.

Assistant coach Matt Kaczor gave a preview of what to expect.

“It’s a preview of our national course,” Kaczor said. “It’s a grouping of a lot of the top teams in the nation that will be there. It gives us a chance to see how we stack up on the men’s side with us having such a young group. It’s exciting for us.”

CMU placed 5th out of 20 teams at the Notre Dame invitational.

Kaczor admits that the Chippewas haven’t been at their best yet.

“They are very hungry after waiting,” he said. “After not having the greatest race or races, they have had to stew on that for longer than they would have wanted to. Hopefully it will turn out to be a benefit on Sunday.”

Sophomore Nathan Huff is one of the runners that can’t wait to get back on course.

“We are really hungry,” Huff said. “We are really excited and ready to race. We’ve been training really hard and we just want to get out and show everyone what we can do.”

One Chippewa expected to contribute is redshirt freshmen Kyle Stacks.

“Our last meet didn’t go as well as we wanted it to, but we’ve been having a good week of working out,” Stacks said. “I think we are ready to show everyone else what we are made of and what we can do.

Stacks is only racing in his second colligate meet after returning from injury, but holds high expectations for himself.

“I want to be back where I was last year, which was the front of the pack,” he said. “I’d like to be able to push more of my teammates and drop my time.”

Toughness, commitment, and challenging is how Huff summed up the season so far.