By Megan Maharry
Sports Editor
The Northwestern Oklahoma State University cross country team is up and running again. The is training to prepare for their upcoming fall season.
Both the men and women’s teams made strides last season. The men finished 6th overall in the Great American Conference and the women finished 9th. When competing in the Central Region Cross Country Championship, the men finished 27th overall and the women 32nd overall.
Several of the Lady Ranger and Ranger cross country runners broke records, both school and personal, making for a solid 2017 season.
With the 2018 season narrowing in, head coach Jill Lancaster and assistant coach Brock Hime discussed their goals for this season and how their runners are going to compete this year.
Lancaster said her team has upgraded from where they were before. Hime added that they were already seeing jumps in training from both the returning athletes and incoming athletes.
Lancaster said the commitment from her team is there.
“That’s where our gains are made right now,” Lancaster said. “Committing to what we expect of them.”
Assistant coach Hime, who is new to the stuff, also ran in college and was an All-American. He said he expected men and women to move up in the conference this year.
Sophomore Ben Ivory said this year has him excited to see the new talent the coaching staff has brought in.
“I feel like compared to last year it’s like night and day,” Ivory said. “The energy that everyone brings every day is awesome (even at 6am).”
He also said he believes Coach Hime is a great asset for the team on the distance end of things.
“The run I’m looking forward to the most has to be GAC championships,” Ivory said. “That’s the race we all are waiting for because we will be at our peak in our training and we all are ready to break some barriers.”
The Rangers take on their first run on September 8 at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.