Southwestern's cross country team gets its season started Friday evening in Indianola at the Bill Buxton Invitational, hosted by Simpson College.
The Spartans are ready to hit the course after having their first meet of the season canceled because of last week's extreme heat. Friday's race time has been moved back from 5:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. to accommodate for the rising temperatures on Friday.
Leading the way for the Spartans this season is Chase Oates. The sophomore from Columbia Heights, Minnesota, had a strong freshman cross country season in which he made it to the NJCAA National Championships and ended the year 13th on SWCC's all-time 8K leaderboard with a PR of 27:12.9.
Oates followed up his cross country season by breaking school records during indoor track and another school record during outdoor track. He was a national qualifier in the 1,500 meters outdoors. After a strong summer of training, he appears poised to take another leap forward during his sophomore cross country campaign.
"Chase is a perfect example of someone who buys into the training plan and works hard," said Scott Vicker, director of cross country/track & field. "He had never run cross country before coming to SWCC, but he trusted in the training I gave him and followed it perfectly. He is seeing the benefits of that. We have worked with XLR8 Performance Lab to help us dial in specific training adaptations we need to make to help take him to the next level, so we now have a blueprint to follow for the rest of the season to help Chase achieve his goals. He still has a lot of potential left, so it will be exciting to see how low he can go this season."
Newcomer Daemon Rodriguez figures to be an important part of the Spartan lineup this fall. A freshman from Midlothian, Texas, Rodriguez also had a solid summer of training, and comes into the fall in the best shape of his life.
"I have really liked what I've seen from Daemon so far this fall," Vicker said. "He was a low-mileage guy in high school, so I knew there would be a lot of potential for him if we could bump his mileage up. He has been very consistent with his training, and once he gets the hang of racing the longer distances in college, I think he will really blossom. Having Chase to look up to and learn from will be huge for him this year."
Last year's No. 2 runner for the Spartans also returns in sophomore Michael Mayer. The Clarinda High School graduate made big strides over the course of his freshman cross country season, going from 29:44 in the 8K at the beginning of the season to 28:21. Mayer will need to make the same kind of progress during the season this year, and will be a key factor in determining how the Spartans fare as a team.
Jonathon Hackett returns for his second season of cross country, as well. Another sophomore from Columbia Heights, Minnesota, Hackett was a national qualifier during outdoor track in the decathlon. Kyle Sanders trained with the Spartans last fall, but redshirted the season. He will compete in meets this fall.
"Hackett isn't a cross country runner by trade, but he does it to help with his 1,500 meters in the decathlon. He's a competitor who wants to help out the team any way he can," Vicker said. "Kyle has looked stronger this fall than he did in practices last year. I am excited for him to compete this fall. We will need both of these guys to compete at their best in order to have the most team success."
The Spartan toe the line at 7:15 p.m. Friday at Pickard Park in Indianola. Then, after a week off from training, Southwestern travels to Lincoln, Nebraska, Sept. 16 for the Greeno-Dirksen Invite, co-hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University and University of Nebraska. The Spartans follow that up with the Viking Invitational hosted by Grand View on DMACC's Ankeny campus on Sept. 23. The team will have two weeks to focus on training before returning to action Oct. 13 at the Indian Hills Invitational, before the highlight of the season as the Spartans host the Region 11 Championships at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27. The NJCAA National Championships are Saturday, Nov. 11, in Huntsville, Alabama.
"It's exciting for us to be hosting the regional championships this fall," Vicker said. "Having the home-course advantage will be big for us. This will be a great opportunity for the community to come watch us compete and see some top-level competition from some of the other Region 11 schools. We'd love to have a lot of support on the course that day."
Follow the Spartans on social media throughout the season by searching for Run4SWCC.