Cross Country Media Guide

1 2 | 2 0 1 7 K U T Z T OW N U N I V E R S I T Y C R O S S C O U N T R Y The Kutztown University men’s cross country team will feature an extremely young lineup in 2017. KU graduates much of its leader- ship from its senior class, will redshirt its top upperclassmen this season, and will look to its youth to take advantage of a great opportunity and maintain the program’s reputation as one of the top teams in the conference and region. The Golden Bears turned in a fifth-place finish at last year’s Penn- sylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships, the program’s best since 2002. KU posted its sixth-straight top-10 finish at regionals with an eighth-place run, and for the second year in a row, sent a runner to the NCAA National Championships. Despite meeting the yearly goals of finishing in the top-half of the conference and regional runs, Kutztown put added pressure on itself last year with the hope of making it to nationals – a feat KU hasn’t reached since 1988. It had the runners with capability of putting together a special day at regionals to secure a national berth, but the summer and preseason goal ended up falling just out of reach. “We had a solid year with some really high expectations, but I don’t think we met those expectations last year,” head coach Ray Hoffman said. “We weren’t able to get the entire team on the same page to post good finishes at the conference or regional meet, and we just weren’t in the conversation to get to nationals like we hoped we’d be.” Hoffman enters his 20th season as the cross country head coach, and thinks the team may have put just a bit too much pressure on itself last season – a lesson he hopes the team can build off of moving forward. “One thing I hope the team takes away from last year is to set its goals early-on once again, but to shift the focus to training and preparation during the season,” Hoffman said. “Getting to nationals seemed to be on the front of everyone’s minds all year long, and I think those big picture goals can wear you down when you focus on them throughout an entire season.” While Kutztown featured three seniors on last year’s postseason lineups, multiple underclassmen gained significant experience in the starting rotation that hopes to be built upon in 2017. KU fea- tures two seniors on its 2017 squad, but Hoffman has made an intriguing move on who to run this season. In hopes of not only building up team-wide experience this sea- son, but to put together a roster comprised of talented upper- classmen in 2018, KU will redshirt three of its top runners in 2018 – including both seniors and its two-time national quali- fier. Seniors Steve Maine and Michael Diecidue, along with junior Jose Colon-Cruz, will redshirt this season to open great opportu- nities for this year’s Golden Bears. “It just worked out that Steve and Michael will be on campus an extra semester to complete their degrees – why use their eligibil- ity now when we can wait one more year,” Hoffman said. “They 2017 Season Preview - Men will continue to train with the team this fall, will get added down- time from racing, and then will come back for hopeful strong in- door and outdoor track seasons. We figure a year from now, they will be another year older, our maturity and experience as a team will have grown, and hopefully we can put something memorable together in 2018.” Despite the short-term loss of three of its top runners, Hoffman still feels Kutztown can continue to accomplish its yearly goals of maintaining the regional presence of the program. KU was picked sixth in the PSAC Preseason Poll. “We are going to be really young, but we still feel we can be in the top-half of the conference and a top-10 team at regionals – we think we can do that,” Hoffman said. Xavier Gutierrez will be KU’s most experienced runner as the team’s lone returning junior in 2017. He has postseason experi- ence, was a point-scorer in the steeplechase during track season, and looks to move into KU’s top-half of the lineup this year. Jared Luckanitz redshirted last year and enters his third year with the program as well. Nick DeGennaro ran in the postseason as a freshman last year. He finished 42nd at the PSAC Championships and aims to be one of KU’s top runners this season. Fellow sophomore AJ Kilpatrick was strong during track season running the 5,000m last year, as the duo of DeGennaro and Kilpatrick aim to be two of KU’s top-three runners. Chris Coates returns to the program after taking a year off. He was a conference scorer in the 10,000m in 2015, will need time to get back into racing shape, but could be someone who helps KU right away in its lineup. Andrew Sulon and Derek Barney are two talented freshmen that could step into the top-seven right away and make contributions. They will be pushed by returners such as Nate Burkhart and Jason Leonardo, who have continued to develop and add depth through their first years at KU. Mathew Bianco and Cesar Gonzalez both come off redshirt sea- sons last year and look ahead to their first year of competing at the college level. KU’s remaining freshmen class of Cameron Christopher, Derek Domsicz, Teagen Fortna and Billy Kubarewicz will look to build their strength during the fall as they adjust to longer races and prepare toward middle distance events in the track season. Kutztown opens its season on Saturday, Sept. 2, at the Salisbury Fall Classic in Maryland. KU will host its annual Division II/III Chal- lenge on Saturday, Sept. 16, with two other regular-season meets on the calendar. This year’s PSAC Championships will be held at California Univer- sity (PA), while the Atlantic Regionals will be at Lock Haven Uni- versity.