UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, August 18, 1993
9B
John Gamble/KANSAN
Cross country runner Julia Saul, Lawrence junior, stretches with her teammate Daniela Daggy, Bloomington, Ind., senior, in preparation for a practice run Tuesday.
Runners take their marks
By Kent Hohlfeld
Kansan sportswriter
This year's cross country squad has two sets of expectations — one set for the women and another for the men.
The women's team has expectations of significantly improving on their fourth place Big Eight Conference showing in 1992. The team ran well last year against perennial powerhouse Arkansas but faltered late in the season due to a lack of depth, Kansas coach Gary Schwartz said.
"Depth has always been a problem,"Schwartz said. "When I started here we had to get people from campus but now we've built up the quality."
That quality was tested last season when Rachelle Gundy, the third runner on the team, suffered at midseason a severe case of shin splints, which required minor surgery. Kristi Kloster, the second runner on the squad, caught the flu, which sidelined her during the Big Eight Championships. Even with the injuries that plagued the team last year, the team did field its first All-American in team history. Julia Saul.
Both Gundy and Kloster will return for what their coaches hope will be a legitimate shot at a Big Eight title.
"We'll have all of our varsity runners back and I think we have a shot at the Big Eight," said Steve Guymon, assistant cross country coach. "It's been a while since we've been able to go into a season knowing that."
The players are excited about the season as their coaches are.
"I've never seen the runners so excited about the start of the season," said Ashley Ace, junior runner.
Ace said that even though a painful foot injury hampered her summer training, she expected great things from herself and the team. She said that the team's depth had been a problem last year with the injuries and illnesses that the team suffered late in the year.
The depth problem may be alleviated partially by the acquisition of five All-State high school standouts from across the nation in the freshman class.
"This year, if someone goes down we'll have someone to step right in and take over." Ace said.
While the women's squad looks for success this season, the men's team is looking toward the future.
"We're not sacrificing the season, but we're a little unsure of how the men's squad will do this season," Schwartz said.
Last year the team missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships, breaking a string of three straight years in which the team had qualified for the national meet.
"We got a little spoiled making it every year," Guymon said.
This year the team plans to redshirt their two top runners, Michael Cox and David Johnston, in order to save a year of their eligibility. This will leave the team dominated by freshmen.
"We want to develop our younger runners this year," Guymon said. "Then we feel we can come back next year with Cox and Johnston and have a stronger team."
The runners agree that this is a year of change for the team.
"This is definitely a rebuilding year for us," said Chris Ronan, sophomore runner.
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