Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeffrey Lamonde The men's cross country team will depend heavily Saturday on senior Andrew Manning when it hosts the Mid-American Conference Championships at Riverwood Resort. [Click to enlarge]

A season's worth of preparation culminates Saturday for the men's cross country team when it competes in the Mid-American Conference Championships.

The meet begins with the women's race at 11 a.m. at Riverwood Resort, while the men race at noon.

Eastern Michigan and Miami are the favorites heading into the event. The Chippewas know it will take a tremendous effort on their part if they hope to recapture the title that has eluded them the past two years.

"This will be the hardest race of the year for us," said coach Craig Fuller. "We need to get up front and hang on."

Since Central last competed Oct. 13 at the Great American Cross Country Festival, the focus in practice has been working on speed and sharpening its skills.

"We've been gearing our workouts toward this meet," said redshirt freshman Cory Arnold. "We've been getting used to running fast on this type of course."

CMU started running the course at Riverwood early in the season and has run there many times throughout the year in preparation for this event. The Chippewas do not expect the course to run fast, but they do anticipate a competitive meet.

"We hope to take advantage of the home course," Fuller said. "It's not extremely fast or hilly. The grass is long and the ground is soft."

Seniors Matt Loiselle and Andrew Manning will be counted on to lead the nine-man roster. Sophomore Jacob Korir, one of CMU's top runners, will not compete, putting pressure on others to have a solid race.

A lot of the pressure in the event will be on Central's young corps of runners. Sophomores Adam Richmond and Scott Barnes, Arnold and freshman Sammy Kiprotich will have to compete at veteran level if they hope to keep pace.

"I think we're mature in our racing, but I'm not totally sure what to expect," Arnold said. "We're going to have to be competitive."

Fuller is confident everything is coming together at the right time for his team. He has seen his runners improve with each meet and feels that they have the potential to capture a title.

"We're as ready as we're going to be," he said. "It's going to take our best effort of the year to be successful in this race."



sports@cm-life.com

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