Humidity poses challenges for cross country at Spartan Invite
When asked if the team had met his expectations after Friday’s Spartan Invitational, Head Coach Matt Kaczor replied with a sigh.
“Oh, how do I put this nicely?” he said.
The Central Michigan University cross country team struggled with humidity Friday, which led to below average race times for most runners.
“If you look at the times, they weren’t as impressive as they were in years past because of the course,” Kaczor said. “I would have liked to see a couple people run faster.”
However, there were bright spots in Friday's race. Junior Jamie Madrigal had what Kaczor called the “race of the weekend” as she moved up more than 50 places in 1 3/4 miles.
“She was moving through the group, through the pack and really had a phenomenal finish,” Kaczor said.
Madrigal finished third for the Chippewas and 70th overall with a time of 23:46 running in the first 6K race of the year.
Senior Kelly Schubert finished 21st overall (22:21) and freshman Samantha Allmacher was 40th overall (23:12), finishing first and second for the Chippewas respectively.
Along with Madrigal, Kaczor was pleased with the performances of freshmen Mark Beckman (66th) (26:40), Luke Anderson (70th) (26:42) and junior Spencer Nousain (73rd) (26:46) who finished first, second and third for the Chippewas in the men’s 8K race.
“Although they felt like they had a lot more left, they understand there’s more season ahead of us.” Kaczor said. “They are hungry for more and I can’t be disappointed with how they competed.”
The Chippewas ran without seniors Nate Ghena, Dekalita Silas and sophomore Emmanuel Joseph on the men’s team and sophomore Kirsten Olling, seniors Breanne Lesnar and Alyssa Dyer, junior Michaela Bundy and redshirt freshman Megan O’Neil on the women’s team.
The Chippewas next race is the Roy Griak Invite Sept. 26, where only the top nine runners will compete.
