Alyssa Griffith/Winonan
The Winona State University cross-country men’s and women’s teams have each earned a top ten ranking in the preseason cross-country poll.
The women were picked to finish third in the conference after an impressive postseason run last fall, where they earned the first trip to the NCAA Division II Championship in program history. Out of the seven runners who competed at nationals, four are returning this season.
The men, who finished eighth at the NSIC Championship, finished ninth in the poll. With only one senior on the roster last season, the men have an experienced returning team.
In both the men and women’s category in the preseason poll, Augustana was ranked to finish first.
Head coach Brett Ayers was an assistant last year and is in his first year as head coach of both the men and women’s teams.
“We have pretty high goals,” Ayers said. “This team finished ninth in the national championship last year and one of our goals is to definitely return to nationals. We want to be a consistent national qualifying team.”
Part of the commitment to that goal was putting the work in over the summer months. While both teams wrapped up their season and school year to head home, the hard work continued.
“Our coach put together a great, detailed, summer workout plan called ‘Summer of The Warrior,’” junior Jordan Skelly said.
“We get to go home for summer, which means it’s up to us to push ourselves and put the miles in,” Skelly said. “Good summer training is essential to a good cross country season, and I am very confident that you will see we put in a lot of work over the summer.”
The training plan included a lot of miles to cover, workouts, core and strength, she said.
The recent heat has posed a challenge for the Winona State cross-country teams. With work to do before the season starts on Sept. 7 with the St. Mary’s University Alumni Open, the men’s and women’s teams have been getting their miles in early.
“Yesterday, we practiced at 5:45, and everyone was there,” Ayers said. “I wouldn’t say they were overjoyed to be there, but there were great attitudes of ‘let’s get this done,’ and it was the best workout we’ve done so far. And that’s not easy to do that early in the morning.”
Ayers is positive about the upcoming season and said he thinks both teams will do well.
“We have a special group,” Ayers said. “They’re extremely focused and competitive. They’re extremely focused at what they’re doing and really hard working. And that’s not only on their running; academically they do very, very well. I’ve coached a lot, and this is one of the best groups I’ve been around.”
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