SE: K-State Men's XC Seniors Leading Program to New Heights Heading into Big 12 Championship
Oct 24, 2017 | Cross Country
By Corbin McGuire
The standard set by the six seniors on the K-State men's cross country team was made abundantly clear before the season: Don't view past results as limitations on the future. Look at them as a challenge.
"At the beginning of the year, the upperclassmen sat down with the underclassmen and said, 'Look, we're going to train as a group. We're going to try and race as a group. We're going to do things together,'" K-State head coach Ryun Godfrey said. "And then they said we'd like to have the highest finish ever at Big 12s."
The K-State men's highest Big 12 conference placement was in 1998 when they finished fifth. The Wildcats' next-best showing at the Big 12 Championship, which will take place this Saturday in Round Rock, Texas, was a sixth-place result in 2015.
All six of the Wildcats' current seniors — Brett and Jeff Bachman, Colton Donahue, Lukas Koch, Sam Oxandale and Bryan Zack — were part of that 2015 group. They have been on a mission to top it ever since.
"We wanted to finish the highest that K-State ever has in the Big 12," said Brett Bachman, who redshirted with his twin brother, Jeff, last season when K-State placed eighth at the Big 12 Championship. "We felt like that was a realistic goal with this group, and so far we're pretty confident that we can go in there and get top four, maybe top three. We'll see what happens."
Already this season, K-State's men have reached new heights. The Wildcats recently earned a No. 12 spot in the USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Rankings, the program's highest ranking ever.
K-State's first appearance in the top 15 of the Midwest's Regional Rankings, which started in 2010, came in 2015. Last season, the Wildcats were slotted in the 14th spot twice before eventually finishing 18th at the regional meet.
"It just gets us excited. Being here for five years, it hasn't always been that way, that we've been ranked," Bachman said. "Now we're getting in the rankings and we keep moving up in the rankings, so it's exciting and it just motivates you to keep climbing."
While the Wildcats' surplus of seniors has certainly helped their ascension, experience alone does not guarantee improvement. More than anything, Godfrey said, this group does not settle.
"They don't want to do less than what's required. They want to do what's required and then some. They're just those types of kids that want to see where their potential is and they're willing to work hard," Godfrey said. "When I come to practice, nobody in that group whines or complains. Every year, they've gotten a little bit stronger mentally and physically."
Through the ups and downs, Bachman said this group has stayed the course. Now, they are reaping the rewards.
"Everybody being committed and willing to stick it out through the tough times, I think that's showing now that we're all experienced and have good training. We're able to compete at a really high level," he said. "We've been here together forever and not always had as much success but we've always come in here willing to put in the work, willing to show up every day. That's paying dividends now."
Donahue, K-State's top finisher in three of four meets this season, said the team's focus on taking every small aspect seriously has also added up to better results.
"A lot of it is just taking what we've learned from the past four years, whether it's getting our homework done, going to bed early, quality training, not running ourselves into the ground, staying together in workouts, being able to push each other," he listed off. "Communication is a big key with it as well."
Communication comes into play often, Donahue added. For instance, when one runner is struggling in a workout, a teammate will either drop back to help him push through it or encourage him to catch up to the group. It is one way K-State's seniors have tried to keep their team tightly packed together.
This tight-knit culture extends beyond their grueling training sessions, too.
"We hang out all the time," Bachman said. "We're just constantly together."
The same could be said for K-State's races.
This season, the largest gap between K-State's first and fifth runners was 34 spots at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Illinois, two weeks ago. Five seniors led the way for the Wildcats at that meet, where they finished fifth out of 27 teams.
"We've been focusing throughout the years on getting closer as a team and just working together on, 'What can we do together to come out strong and come out on top at the end?'" Donahue said. "Since this is our last year, we really wanted to have the team finish strong together and we wanted everyone to be a part of it."
To make K-State history on Saturday, all of them will have to run well. After years of finishing in the bottom half of the conference, K-State's men know this as well as anyone. This has not shaken their confidence, however. It's only fueled their drive to change the status quo.
"We've continued to progress each race and we just want to keep that mindset but also just make sure that we rise to the occasion, really make these ones count," Bachman said. "We're ready to go."
The standard set by the six seniors on the K-State men's cross country team was made abundantly clear before the season: Don't view past results as limitations on the future. Look at them as a challenge.
"At the beginning of the year, the upperclassmen sat down with the underclassmen and said, 'Look, we're going to train as a group. We're going to try and race as a group. We're going to do things together,'" K-State head coach Ryun Godfrey said. "And then they said we'd like to have the highest finish ever at Big 12s."
The K-State men's highest Big 12 conference placement was in 1998 when they finished fifth. The Wildcats' next-best showing at the Big 12 Championship, which will take place this Saturday in Round Rock, Texas, was a sixth-place result in 2015.
All six of the Wildcats' current seniors — Brett and Jeff Bachman, Colton Donahue, Lukas Koch, Sam Oxandale and Bryan Zack — were part of that 2015 group. They have been on a mission to top it ever since.
"We wanted to finish the highest that K-State ever has in the Big 12," said Brett Bachman, who redshirted with his twin brother, Jeff, last season when K-State placed eighth at the Big 12 Championship. "We felt like that was a realistic goal with this group, and so far we're pretty confident that we can go in there and get top four, maybe top three. We'll see what happens."
Already this season, K-State's men have reached new heights. The Wildcats recently earned a No. 12 spot in the USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Rankings, the program's highest ranking ever.
K-State's first appearance in the top 15 of the Midwest's Regional Rankings, which started in 2010, came in 2015. Last season, the Wildcats were slotted in the 14th spot twice before eventually finishing 18th at the regional meet.
"It just gets us excited. Being here for five years, it hasn't always been that way, that we've been ranked," Bachman said. "Now we're getting in the rankings and we keep moving up in the rankings, so it's exciting and it just motivates you to keep climbing."
While the Wildcats' surplus of seniors has certainly helped their ascension, experience alone does not guarantee improvement. More than anything, Godfrey said, this group does not settle.
"They don't want to do less than what's required. They want to do what's required and then some. They're just those types of kids that want to see where their potential is and they're willing to work hard," Godfrey said. "When I come to practice, nobody in that group whines or complains. Every year, they've gotten a little bit stronger mentally and physically."
Through the ups and downs, Bachman said this group has stayed the course. Now, they are reaping the rewards.
"Everybody being committed and willing to stick it out through the tough times, I think that's showing now that we're all experienced and have good training. We're able to compete at a really high level," he said. "We've been here together forever and not always had as much success but we've always come in here willing to put in the work, willing to show up every day. That's paying dividends now."
Donahue, K-State's top finisher in three of four meets this season, said the team's focus on taking every small aspect seriously has also added up to better results.
"A lot of it is just taking what we've learned from the past four years, whether it's getting our homework done, going to bed early, quality training, not running ourselves into the ground, staying together in workouts, being able to push each other," he listed off. "Communication is a big key with it as well."
Communication comes into play often, Donahue added. For instance, when one runner is struggling in a workout, a teammate will either drop back to help him push through it or encourage him to catch up to the group. It is one way K-State's seniors have tried to keep their team tightly packed together.
This tight-knit culture extends beyond their grueling training sessions, too.
"We hang out all the time," Bachman said. "We're just constantly together."
The same could be said for K-State's races.
This season, the largest gap between K-State's first and fifth runners was 34 spots at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Illinois, two weeks ago. Five seniors led the way for the Wildcats at that meet, where they finished fifth out of 27 teams.
"We've been focusing throughout the years on getting closer as a team and just working together on, 'What can we do together to come out strong and come out on top at the end?'" Donahue said. "Since this is our last year, we really wanted to have the team finish strong together and we wanted everyone to be a part of it."
To make K-State history on Saturday, all of them will have to run well. After years of finishing in the bottom half of the conference, K-State's men know this as well as anyone. This has not shaken their confidence, however. It's only fueled their drive to change the status quo.
"We've continued to progress each race and we just want to keep that mindset but also just make sure that we rise to the occasion, really make these ones count," Bachman said. "We're ready to go."
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