SE: K-State XC Ready to Follow Path to Improvement
Sep 03, 2019 | Cross Country, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
What the K-State men's cross-country team looks to continue, the women's team wants to start replicating this season.
K-State's men, after finishing eighth at the Big 12 Championship five times between 2011-16, placed a program-best fourth at the conference meet in 2017, thanks in large part to a roster with six seniors. Last year, however, a much-younger squad finished fifth. It marked the program's best ever two-year run at the Big 12 meet.
Cara Melgares, a junior for the women's team, said she's taken notice of the men's blueprint to become a competitor in the Big 12.
"My freshman year, a lot of the (men's) seniors just talked about how they started out at the bottom of the Big 12," she said. "A lot of them are small-town Kansas kids (like on the women's side), and they started out and it was nothing special, but they worked and five years later they were right there, near the top of the Big 12. That's definitely inspired me because that's exactly what I want to do with our girls' program here."
Ethan Powell, a redshirt sophomore for K-State's men, said the team's success last season hinged on holding one another accountable.
"Obviously, each of us got here because we're able to hold ourselves accountable for a lot of things. There's a lot of personal discipline, but then all of us live together. The older guys all live together, the freshmen all live together and then there's some other houses between that, so I think that having that level of accountability is another thing," he said. "It's getting to bed, as simple as eating fruits as vegetables, that kind of stuff. The bigger stuff as a team, staying (focused) in workouts and, when we're traveling, making sure we're holding each other to a pretty high standard, so there's some layers to it that I think really help us."
A few factors should help K-State's men this season.
One, the team only lost one senior from last year, albeit their top runner in Joe Gorthy. Not one returning scorer from last year is older than a junior, too, making the experience gained this year even more valuable for 2020.
Also, Manhattan native Jackson Schroeder, who redshirted last season with an injury, looks to work his way back into the lineup this fall. When healthy, Powell called "the best runner on the team."
"It's the difference between getting fifth and fourth, I think," Powell added.
Schroeder's brother, Cooper, led K-State in three of its six races last season as a true freshman, including the Big 12 Championship. Dylan Brenneman, a redshirt sophomore, was K-State's fifth scorer at the conference race and 51st, overall. Powell complimented the progress made from junior Noah Stevenson, a more natural mid-distance runner.
"He's definitely been up in the front for some of these first couple workouts, so that's been really encouraging," Powell said. "I'm really proud of what he's done, and I think it's going to show this season."
Collectively, Jackson Schroeder said the group looks to embody the culture passed on to them.
"We're just trying to, year after year, get better," he said. "At K-State, that's our goal: Be better than the year before."
K-State's women believe they can start to follow the same path.
The Wildcats placed 10th at last year's Big 12 Championship, but they return four of their top five scorers in Kassidy Johnson, Cayli Hume, Anna Keeley and Melgares. Plus, they add six freshmen to the mix.
The newcomers include 2018 KSHSAA cross-country state champion Helen Giefer from WaKeeney, as well as Washburn Rural High School product Jaybe Shufelberger and Shawnee native Delaney Kemp. Shufelberger and Kemp both notched runner-up finishes at the state cross country meet in their high school careers.
"I'm really excited because I think all the freshmen coming in and, really, everyone going into this season is on the same page. We're all excited to work and get better together. I everyone's fired up to work hard, and that's big," Melgares said. "That's what we build on and that's how we start to change the program to start to look like we can be up there at the top of the Big 12 and we can compete with those girls — working hard and being there for each other."
Johnson, a junior and K-State's second-best finisher at the Big 12 Championship last year, echoed Melgares.
"We all just want to work together as a team and really build that team foundation that we haven't necessarily had and just work on improving every little aspect and see what we can do at Big 12s," she said, "and, hopefully, place higher than we have been."
What the K-State men's cross-country team looks to continue, the women's team wants to start replicating this season.
K-State's men, after finishing eighth at the Big 12 Championship five times between 2011-16, placed a program-best fourth at the conference meet in 2017, thanks in large part to a roster with six seniors. Last year, however, a much-younger squad finished fifth. It marked the program's best ever two-year run at the Big 12 meet.
Cara Melgares, a junior for the women's team, said she's taken notice of the men's blueprint to become a competitor in the Big 12.
"My freshman year, a lot of the (men's) seniors just talked about how they started out at the bottom of the Big 12," she said. "A lot of them are small-town Kansas kids (like on the women's side), and they started out and it was nothing special, but they worked and five years later they were right there, near the top of the Big 12. That's definitely inspired me because that's exactly what I want to do with our girls' program here."
Ethan Powell, a redshirt sophomore for K-State's men, said the team's success last season hinged on holding one another accountable.
"Obviously, each of us got here because we're able to hold ourselves accountable for a lot of things. There's a lot of personal discipline, but then all of us live together. The older guys all live together, the freshmen all live together and then there's some other houses between that, so I think that having that level of accountability is another thing," he said. "It's getting to bed, as simple as eating fruits as vegetables, that kind of stuff. The bigger stuff as a team, staying (focused) in workouts and, when we're traveling, making sure we're holding each other to a pretty high standard, so there's some layers to it that I think really help us."
A few factors should help K-State's men this season.
One, the team only lost one senior from last year, albeit their top runner in Joe Gorthy. Not one returning scorer from last year is older than a junior, too, making the experience gained this year even more valuable for 2020.
Also, Manhattan native Jackson Schroeder, who redshirted last season with an injury, looks to work his way back into the lineup this fall. When healthy, Powell called "the best runner on the team."
"It's the difference between getting fifth and fourth, I think," Powell added.
Schroeder's brother, Cooper, led K-State in three of its six races last season as a true freshman, including the Big 12 Championship. Dylan Brenneman, a redshirt sophomore, was K-State's fifth scorer at the conference race and 51st, overall. Powell complimented the progress made from junior Noah Stevenson, a more natural mid-distance runner.
"He's definitely been up in the front for some of these first couple workouts, so that's been really encouraging," Powell said. "I'm really proud of what he's done, and I think it's going to show this season."
Collectively, Jackson Schroeder said the group looks to embody the culture passed on to them.
"We're just trying to, year after year, get better," he said. "At K-State, that's our goal: Be better than the year before."
K-State's women believe they can start to follow the same path.
The Wildcats placed 10th at last year's Big 12 Championship, but they return four of their top five scorers in Kassidy Johnson, Cayli Hume, Anna Keeley and Melgares. Plus, they add six freshmen to the mix.
The newcomers include 2018 KSHSAA cross-country state champion Helen Giefer from WaKeeney, as well as Washburn Rural High School product Jaybe Shufelberger and Shawnee native Delaney Kemp. Shufelberger and Kemp both notched runner-up finishes at the state cross country meet in their high school careers.
"I'm really excited because I think all the freshmen coming in and, really, everyone going into this season is on the same page. We're all excited to work and get better together. I everyone's fired up to work hard, and that's big," Melgares said. "That's what we build on and that's how we start to change the program to start to look like we can be up there at the top of the Big 12 and we can compete with those girls — working hard and being there for each other."
Johnson, a junior and K-State's second-best finisher at the Big 12 Championship last year, echoed Melgares.
"We all just want to work together as a team and really build that team foundation that we haven't necessarily had and just work on improving every little aspect and see what we can do at Big 12s," she said, "and, hopefully, place higher than we have been."
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