After Hitting Adversity, Cats Seek Strong Showing at Big 12s
Oct 27, 2022 | Cross Country, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
It's been a season of growth for the Kansas State men's and women's cross country teams, who stormed through Lawrence, Lincoln and Fayetteville, hit a speed bump at Stillwater, and now stand poised to make some noise at the 2022 Big 12 Championships in Lubbock, Texas.
Each team could potentially finish the league meet better than it has the past couple years.
"That's been the whole goal," K-State junior Jack Moore said. "We've come so close. It'd definitely mean the world to us."
The men's team has finished the Big 12 Championships in fourth place each of the past two years; the women's team has finished fifth.
"We've got some really strong talent on our team," junior Katie Kasunic said. "We're very together and our mindset is very positive. So, if we go into it with a really calm, strong mindset, and really just give it our all, I think it's possible."
Moore, a native of Olathe, Kansas, was ready to hang it up prior to this season. Head coach Ryun Godfrey retired, and former K-State head coach Randy Cole, the 1998 Big 12 Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year, returned to his alma mater in June. Cooper Schroeder, the team's top runner, transferred to Florida State. Several members of the team dealt with stress fractures over the summer.
Moore believed his career was fizzling toward an end. Then something clicked.
"I'd been struggling, and this was my way out in a sense," Moore said. "I changed my mind and came back to see it through my senior year. Now I'm racing as good as I ever have, and our team is looking great.
"Our team has been through a lot the last six months with the coaching change, our best guy transferring, and dealing with injuries, but it's brought us closer together.
"We've run really well."
The men's team finished second at the Bob Timmons Classic in Lawrence, Kansas, on September 3, took first-place at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational on September 17, and finished second at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on September 30.
Then came the grueling course at the Weis-Crockett Invitational in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on October 15 where the Wildcats finished 15th.
Senior Stephen Kielhofner (53rd) and junior Hadley Splechter (56th) kept their same pace from previous meets — they finished 24:35.6 and 24:37.7 — with Moore (102nd at 25:09.2) finishing just outside the top-100. Sophomore Alex Gutierrez ran a new 8K personal best time of 26:14.0 to finish 202nd — 17 seconds faster than his previous time set last season.
"It's the hardest course I've ever run," Moore said. "Like with any sport, you have to have a short memory and can't live in the past and have to show up and give it your all."
In the most recent USTFCCCA regional rankings released on October 17, the men's team jumped three spots to No. 10.
The women's team incurred an early setback this season when Grace Meyer suffered an ankle injury that will prevent her from competing Friday. They won the Bob Timmons Classic and the Greeno/Dirksen Invitational and took fourth place at the Chile Pepper Festival before finishing 18th at the Weis-Crockett Invitational.
"Oh my goodness, that course, that was my fifth time racing that course, and it's always a tough one," said Kasunic, a native of Overland Park, Kansas. "There are a lot of hills, which you can use to your advantage, but it's definitely very tough. But it was good. We went into it with a positive mindset, ran the course the day before, and just tried to focus on giving our best. At the end of the day, that's all you can do."
The Weis-Crockett Invitational served as the team's first 6K of the season and three Wildcats finished in the top-100 — juniors Hannah Stewart (39th, 21:39.9), Cailan Steward (76th, 22:06.0) and Sydney Burton (97th, 22:21.5). Cecilia Fisher will be the only freshman to compete in the Big 12 Championships as she competed in her first 6K two weeks ago (141st, 25:09.2). Kasunic finished 165th with a time of 23:20.8.
Kasunic will replace Meyer in the lineup as the team's fifth racer in the Big 12 Championships.
The women's team dropped to No. 13 in the latest USTFCCCA regional rankings.
Now a great opportunity awaits in Lubbock, Texas.
"I feel really confident in our team," Kasunic said. "We did lose Grace, our fifth runner, to injury halfway through the season. I'm stepping up to the fifth spot, so that'll be different. When we're thinking about where we could've been potentially, there's always — every race is so different and every course is so different, but at the end of the day, something crazy could happen, or we could finish even better than we thought we could.
"We want to finish tough."
It's been a season of growth for the Kansas State men's and women's cross country teams, who stormed through Lawrence, Lincoln and Fayetteville, hit a speed bump at Stillwater, and now stand poised to make some noise at the 2022 Big 12 Championships in Lubbock, Texas.
Each team could potentially finish the league meet better than it has the past couple years.
"That's been the whole goal," K-State junior Jack Moore said. "We've come so close. It'd definitely mean the world to us."
The men's team has finished the Big 12 Championships in fourth place each of the past two years; the women's team has finished fifth.
"We've got some really strong talent on our team," junior Katie Kasunic said. "We're very together and our mindset is very positive. So, if we go into it with a really calm, strong mindset, and really just give it our all, I think it's possible."
Moore, a native of Olathe, Kansas, was ready to hang it up prior to this season. Head coach Ryun Godfrey retired, and former K-State head coach Randy Cole, the 1998 Big 12 Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year, returned to his alma mater in June. Cooper Schroeder, the team's top runner, transferred to Florida State. Several members of the team dealt with stress fractures over the summer.
Moore believed his career was fizzling toward an end. Then something clicked.
"I'd been struggling, and this was my way out in a sense," Moore said. "I changed my mind and came back to see it through my senior year. Now I'm racing as good as I ever have, and our team is looking great.
"Our team has been through a lot the last six months with the coaching change, our best guy transferring, and dealing with injuries, but it's brought us closer together.
"We've run really well."
The men's team finished second at the Bob Timmons Classic in Lawrence, Kansas, on September 3, took first-place at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational on September 17, and finished second at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on September 30.
Then came the grueling course at the Weis-Crockett Invitational in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on October 15 where the Wildcats finished 15th.
Senior Stephen Kielhofner (53rd) and junior Hadley Splechter (56th) kept their same pace from previous meets — they finished 24:35.6 and 24:37.7 — with Moore (102nd at 25:09.2) finishing just outside the top-100. Sophomore Alex Gutierrez ran a new 8K personal best time of 26:14.0 to finish 202nd — 17 seconds faster than his previous time set last season.
"It's the hardest course I've ever run," Moore said. "Like with any sport, you have to have a short memory and can't live in the past and have to show up and give it your all."
In the most recent USTFCCCA regional rankings released on October 17, the men's team jumped three spots to No. 10.
The women's team incurred an early setback this season when Grace Meyer suffered an ankle injury that will prevent her from competing Friday. They won the Bob Timmons Classic and the Greeno/Dirksen Invitational and took fourth place at the Chile Pepper Festival before finishing 18th at the Weis-Crockett Invitational.
"Oh my goodness, that course, that was my fifth time racing that course, and it's always a tough one," said Kasunic, a native of Overland Park, Kansas. "There are a lot of hills, which you can use to your advantage, but it's definitely very tough. But it was good. We went into it with a positive mindset, ran the course the day before, and just tried to focus on giving our best. At the end of the day, that's all you can do."
The Weis-Crockett Invitational served as the team's first 6K of the season and three Wildcats finished in the top-100 — juniors Hannah Stewart (39th, 21:39.9), Cailan Steward (76th, 22:06.0) and Sydney Burton (97th, 22:21.5). Cecilia Fisher will be the only freshman to compete in the Big 12 Championships as she competed in her first 6K two weeks ago (141st, 25:09.2). Kasunic finished 165th with a time of 23:20.8.
Kasunic will replace Meyer in the lineup as the team's fifth racer in the Big 12 Championships.
The women's team dropped to No. 13 in the latest USTFCCCA regional rankings.
Now a great opportunity awaits in Lubbock, Texas.
"I feel really confident in our team," Kasunic said. "We did lose Grace, our fifth runner, to injury halfway through the season. I'm stepping up to the fifth spot, so that'll be different. When we're thinking about where we could've been potentially, there's always — every race is so different and every course is so different, but at the end of the day, something crazy could happen, or we could finish even better than we thought we could.
"We want to finish tough."
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