ABILENE – Things are happening fast for Abilene Christian's cross country teams and new coach Nathan Meeuwenberg.
The runners are fast and the season is fast approaching but the new coach is emphasizing patience. It's the finish that matters most.
"I care but I don't care about the races leading up to the championship," said Meeuwenberg. "This isn't like football or basketball where a loss during the season can ruin the season. In our sport, it doesn't matter what place you get until the end. We're going to work on trying to get better. We're not judged on any race until the end of the year. For us, it's all about the championship and peaking at the right time. We're not going to turn any heads until October."
The Wildcats placed sixth in the women's WAC Championship last season and the men placed ninth.
Meeuwenberg hopes to maintain that level on the women's side despite losing three-time All-Conference selection
Irene Rono and
Prudence Kiyeng. The coach believes the men's team has a chance to move up significantly.
Most of the athletes met the Meeuwenberg in is interview process and the coach has been keeping tabs on the progress – not that they need it.
"Not being here until June, we missed out on a few things," said Meeuwenberg. "We graduated two of our best runners on the women's team, but everybody is back on the men's team. No one transferred. That says a lot about the culture here. They trained without a coach. That's just who they are."
There might not have been a coach present, but there was no leadership vacuum.
"That's the fun part – the benefit of not having a coach, which is kind of weird to say," said Meeuwenberg. "The leaders stepped up in that in that way. The team is very self-led, which is fun because they had to do it. It's what was required. Leaders step up when they have to."
The finish line may be months away but the starting gun has sounded on the season already. The athletes have been training and getting familiar with the new coach.
"We're really excited to kind of get back on the campus and start charging forward towards a goal," said Meeuwenberg.
The men's team looks to be led by returners
Garrison Shindler and
Kevin Castruita.
"
Garrison Shindler has dealt with some roadblocks but we know he can run at a high at a high level this season," Meeuwenberg said. "Kevin scored points in the 10-K in track last year and has trained at a really high level as well."
Levi Chambers, though he is out of cross country eligibility, will lend his hand to the team.
"Levi doesn't have cross country eligibility but he'll be a leader in just keeping everyone focused on the goal. He'll be much like a player-coach," said Meeuwenberg.
Gabe Embree,
Neal Helgerson,
Maxwel Kiplagat,
Keaton Raney,
Jacob Russell,
JP Trook and
O'Brien Verdin all return and bring consistent strength to the team.
Two freshmen are attempting to break through and be a part of the scoring:
Zach Martin out of Boyd High School in McKinney, and
Mikhail Fortner from Austin Champions Homeschool.
"Zach be a key contributor for us," Meeuwenberg said. "He's going to be a good addition to the team. Mikhail is developing. We're going to put him in the grinder for a year. That's not to say we're putting a lid on him. The fastest seven are going to run and if he's able to do that, he's able to do that."
The men's team looks to move up from last year's finish.
"We think that we can be top five at the conference level and continue to be in the top 10 in the region," the coach said.
The women return several athletes:
Tessa Holderman,
Bella Evans,
Peyton Bornstein,
Kate Hansen,
Georgia Lee,
Kate Williams and
Katelyn Coldicott. Newcomers
Autumn Smith,
Hadley Phillips and
Kyla Fuller join that group as freshmen.
The emphasis for the women's team will be to push each other forward within a pack.
"We're going to pack run," said Meeuwenberg. "We're going to try to have our pack be really strong since we don't have that super-low stick that we had in Irene."
The long-term goals are planted with every training with the eyes on the prize of a harvest of accomplishments.
"We want to be a championship team and we want to be the best when it matters," Meeuwenberg said. "I'm probably going to annoy our runners because I'm going to say it so often. We train for the championships and we run for the championships."
The season-opener, the home meet and the Western Athletic Conference Championships are all set for the same course this year: Zoe Park in Abilene.
"It will be a fast, good course," Meeuwenberg said. "We're going to do a lot of work on it."
ACU opens the season there on Sept. 1 for the Big Country Festival, hosted by McMurry. After trips to the Texas A&M Invite on Sept. 15 and Arkansas' Chile Pepper Invite on Sept. 29, the Cats return home to host the Naimadu Classic on Oct. 13. ACU hosts the WAC Championships on Oct. 27. The Wildcats hope to go back to Arkansas for the NCAA South Central Regional on Nov. 10.
