Cross country team lost key runners, gained new talent

Sweltering heat, driving rain, and other unpleasant weather extremes keep mortal students shut up cozily in their dorms.

The cross country team just keeps running.

EMU’s coterie of hard-working harriers enter another season of grueling competition, and Lester Zook, now in his 15th season as head coach, is once again optimistic of his squad’s potential.

"We lost key runners to graduation, but gained several new athletes that work hard, and I expect good things of them," Zook, who ran cross country and track at Messiah College in Pennsylvania.

Justin Hawkins, Andrea Kniss, and Wendy Driver will serve as team captains of their respective teams. Hawkins is the defending state champion and all-region qualifier who will lead the men’s charge to the front of the pack. Kniss, a sophomore, and Driver, a junior, bring a solid work ethic to a women’s team who lost top runner and national qualifier Andrea Good to graduation.

One problem the new faces must overcome is the change in distance of the courses. College races are eight kilometers whereas high school events are only five.

"New runners have a tendency to start the race at too fast a pace. They could get away with it in short high school meets; here they will not be able to," Zook said.

The squad’s first meet is Saturday, September 6, at Anne Arundel Community College in Baltimore, Maryland. Hopefully the inaugural race of the 2003 season will be a precursor to future success.