The Southwestern Community College cross country team features an entirely fresh look for the 2024 season, as the Spartans get their season started on Friday.
The Spartans run at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Bill Buxton Invitational, hosted by Simpson College at Pickard Park in Indianola.
This year's Spartan team includes five freshmen and no returners from last year's squad. Gone is Chase Oates, who cemented himself as one of the best runners in program history with a stellar sophomore campaign that saw him twice earn NJCAA National Athlete of the Week, and become the program's first individual Region 11 champion in cross country.
"A lot of people will be glad they no longer have to compete against Chase," said Scott Vicker, SWCC director of cross country/track & field. "While he has graduated from the program, his legacy will live on with this year's team. We wouldn't have been able to land some of the recruits we did for this year without the success Chase had the past two years. He has written the blueprint for how to be successful here at SWCC."
This year's team includes local products Brandon Briley and Dillon Starlin of Creston, as well as East Union graduate Jacob Driskill. Rounding out the squad are Cameron Swapsy of Middleton, Wisc., and Zach Roome of Sydney, Australia. The team is light on cross country experience, as Driskill and Swapsy are the only two who competed in cross country during high school. However, Oates proved there is a pathway to success without prior cross country experience.
Briley and Starlin both played football at Creston, but Briley had a strong track career for the Panthers, culminating in a state meet medal in the 800 meters last spring. Starlin played soccer during the spring, but has shown significant improvement already over the first several weeks of practice. Roome boasts a personal-best time of 1:53.34 in the 800 meters. Driskill was a state qualifier in both cross country and the 800 meters in track for East Union. Swapsy also owns a fast 800 meter PR of 1:56, while also running 17:32 over a 5K cross country course during high school.
"While we may lack a lot of cross country experience, we make up for it with a group of hard workers," Vicker said. "This has been by far the best group I've had in my coaching career in terms of getting summer mileage in. That showed at our team time trial where we had three run 17:35 or faster, and all five were at 18:41 or faster. In previous years, I've only had two instances with two runners going 18:41 or faster at the time trial.
"The guys are gaining fitness quickly, which is great. We will continue to get more mileage under our legs to prepare them for the 8K race distance in college," Vicker said. "And as we get more race experience, I would expect these guys to get more confident in themselves and start melting time away. I have high hopes for this group of guys, and I'm excited to see how much they can improve over the course of the season."
After Friday's 6K opener, the Spartans will have three weeks of training before the first 8K of the season on Sept. 21 at the Greeno-Dirksen Invite, co-hosted by University of Nebraska and Nebraska Wesleyan University. Southwestern will then travel to the Seminole Valley Stampede in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 5, followed by the Indian Hills Invitational on Oct. 11. That meet will serve as a preview of this year's Region 11 Championships, which will be hosted by Indian Hills on Oct. 25. The season concludes with the NJCAA National Championships at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Va.
"This group of guys has really bought into the training and what we're trying to accomplish this season," Vicker said. "I look forward to finishing out the season in Richmond."