A Mindset of Improvement
Aug 25, 2023 | Cross Country, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Time ticks down before the Kansas State Men's and Women's Cross Country teams begin their quests to finish in the upper third of the Big 12 Conference at a time when powerhouse BYU along with UCF, Cincinnati and Houston are competing as league members for the first time. While the Oklahoma State men's and women's teams swept the Big 12 Cross Country Championships last year, the Wildcats carry high hopes that the men's team can maintain its footing — it has finished fourth each of the past two seasons — while the women's squad can improve upon last year's seventh-place league finish.
"It's a very, very strong league," second-year head coach Randy Cole said. "For us, both men and women, we have to have a good pack attack and have somebody break through that all-conference, top-15 or top-10 level for us to place a little bit higher."
It all gets underway when K-State opens its season for the second year in a row at the Bob Timmons Classic in Lawrence, Kansas, on September 2. K-State then travels to the John McNichols Invite in Terre Haute, Indiana, for the first time on September 16 before closing the regular season at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri, on September 29.
The Big 12 Championships are at Ames, Iowa, on October 28, followed by the NCAA Midwest Regionals in Stillwater, Oklahoma on November 10, and the NCAA Championship in Charlottesville, Virginia, on November 18.
"I'm very excited for my second year," said Cole, who was hired as head coach in June 2022 after also leading the Wildcats cross country teams between 1997 and 2004. "Last year, I arrived halfway through the summer and was trying to introduce myself to everybody. Now I know everybody, and we know each other a lot better. It's a lot smoother."
The offseason began with individual meetings with returners and newcomers to nail down a training regimen. For the men, it meant building to a distance of 75-85 miles running per week, and for the women it meant running 46-65 miles per week.
"The long runs built up to 12-17 miles, and we performed some up-tempo type runs where we threw in different types of surges," Cole said. "We did some nice aerobic runs. We tried to be consistent with that."
The men's team enters with shoes to fill. That includes senior Stephen Kielhofner, who received All-Region honors after finishing 22nd in the NCAA Midwest Regional, where the men's team finished 11th and the women's team placed 18th. The departure of Kielhofner along with Hadley Splechter puts returning sixth-year runner Kerby Depenbusch in charge of leading a squad that returns standout juniors Kyle Johnston, Tommy Hazen, Jack Vincent and Alex Gutierrez.
Depenbusch, a native of Great Bend, Kansas, finished 40th in the 2022 Big 12 Championships with an 8K time of 25:49.2. He ran a personal best 31:19.8 on the 10K course at the NCAA Midwest Regionals — 12 seconds faster than his previous best.
Amazingly, Depenbusch achieved his feats after a surgery that kept him from running for five months prior to last season, thus hampering his times. Now at 100% health, he figures to make this season the strongest of his career.
"Coming off the surgery, I had to be in the shadows of Stephen and Hadley, who did a phenomenal job for us," Depenbusch said. "We have a really young team now, so it's up to me to step up and show the new guys the ropes and lead the goal setting. We set the standard right off the bat. I've had a good summer, so I'm hoping to be in much better shape than I was last year and get back to my old self.
"Since we have a younger team and don't have the high numbers now, it's really going to take each and every person on the team really improving, and that starts with me. I have to raise my standards. I definitely think we can finish (in the upper third of the league standings). We have lots of talent on the team and lots of motivated individuals. We can't worry about what everybody else does in the Big 12. We need to run our race and I think we'll finish out all right."
Meanwhile, the women's team returns almost its entire roster, including its top four runners, who each boasted top-50 6K finishes at the Big 12 Championship in seniors Hannah Stewart (23rd), Cailan Steward (41st) and Sydney Burton (43rd), and sophomore Cecilia Fisher (42nd).
Last season, the women's team started off strong with consecutive first-place finishes, sweeping both team wins at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational.
"We'll have a much deeper team experience wise," Cole said. "We're pretty balanced among seniors, juniors, sophomore and freshmen, and that's nice to have instead of having the cupboard bare. We have some really good senior leadership with Hannah, Sydney and Cailan. I'm optimistic about our attitude and eagerness to improve, and to stick our noses in there and be more competitive in the conference and at regionals. There's some talent there and they've put in the work. We'll see if they can make some noise."
Stewart, a fifth-year senior and native of Lawrence, Kansas, comes off her best season. She recorded a new 5K personal best (17:18.8) at the Chile Pepper Festival, led the Wildcats in the 6K (21:52.4) at the Big 12 Championships, and ran the best postseason race of her career with a 6K time of 20:57.8 at the NCAA Midwest Regionals.
"I just remember breaking 21 minutes at the regionals, and it was a fun race," Stewart says. "A lot of us reached personal bests, and it was a fun way to end the season. It motivates me a lot and it also motivates me that there are girls improving around me as well, and who have a like-minded mindset of wanting to be better than last year and making sure we're peaking at championship time. A lot of our conversations are based around that.
"It's about being patient this year because we'll be good when we need to be good. Coach is training us the way we need to be trained and trusting the process is exciting. Everyone is looking forward to the potential we have this season."
Time ticks down before the Kansas State Men's and Women's Cross Country teams begin their quests to finish in the upper third of the Big 12 Conference at a time when powerhouse BYU along with UCF, Cincinnati and Houston are competing as league members for the first time. While the Oklahoma State men's and women's teams swept the Big 12 Cross Country Championships last year, the Wildcats carry high hopes that the men's team can maintain its footing — it has finished fourth each of the past two seasons — while the women's squad can improve upon last year's seventh-place league finish.
"It's a very, very strong league," second-year head coach Randy Cole said. "For us, both men and women, we have to have a good pack attack and have somebody break through that all-conference, top-15 or top-10 level for us to place a little bit higher."
It all gets underway when K-State opens its season for the second year in a row at the Bob Timmons Classic in Lawrence, Kansas, on September 2. K-State then travels to the John McNichols Invite in Terre Haute, Indiana, for the first time on September 16 before closing the regular season at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri, on September 29.
The Big 12 Championships are at Ames, Iowa, on October 28, followed by the NCAA Midwest Regionals in Stillwater, Oklahoma on November 10, and the NCAA Championship in Charlottesville, Virginia, on November 18.
"I'm very excited for my second year," said Cole, who was hired as head coach in June 2022 after also leading the Wildcats cross country teams between 1997 and 2004. "Last year, I arrived halfway through the summer and was trying to introduce myself to everybody. Now I know everybody, and we know each other a lot better. It's a lot smoother."
The offseason began with individual meetings with returners and newcomers to nail down a training regimen. For the men, it meant building to a distance of 75-85 miles running per week, and for the women it meant running 46-65 miles per week.
"The long runs built up to 12-17 miles, and we performed some up-tempo type runs where we threw in different types of surges," Cole said. "We did some nice aerobic runs. We tried to be consistent with that."
The men's team enters with shoes to fill. That includes senior Stephen Kielhofner, who received All-Region honors after finishing 22nd in the NCAA Midwest Regional, where the men's team finished 11th and the women's team placed 18th. The departure of Kielhofner along with Hadley Splechter puts returning sixth-year runner Kerby Depenbusch in charge of leading a squad that returns standout juniors Kyle Johnston, Tommy Hazen, Jack Vincent and Alex Gutierrez.
Depenbusch, a native of Great Bend, Kansas, finished 40th in the 2022 Big 12 Championships with an 8K time of 25:49.2. He ran a personal best 31:19.8 on the 10K course at the NCAA Midwest Regionals — 12 seconds faster than his previous best.
Amazingly, Depenbusch achieved his feats after a surgery that kept him from running for five months prior to last season, thus hampering his times. Now at 100% health, he figures to make this season the strongest of his career.
"Coming off the surgery, I had to be in the shadows of Stephen and Hadley, who did a phenomenal job for us," Depenbusch said. "We have a really young team now, so it's up to me to step up and show the new guys the ropes and lead the goal setting. We set the standard right off the bat. I've had a good summer, so I'm hoping to be in much better shape than I was last year and get back to my old self.
"Since we have a younger team and don't have the high numbers now, it's really going to take each and every person on the team really improving, and that starts with me. I have to raise my standards. I definitely think we can finish (in the upper third of the league standings). We have lots of talent on the team and lots of motivated individuals. We can't worry about what everybody else does in the Big 12. We need to run our race and I think we'll finish out all right."
Meanwhile, the women's team returns almost its entire roster, including its top four runners, who each boasted top-50 6K finishes at the Big 12 Championship in seniors Hannah Stewart (23rd), Cailan Steward (41st) and Sydney Burton (43rd), and sophomore Cecilia Fisher (42nd).
Last season, the women's team started off strong with consecutive first-place finishes, sweeping both team wins at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational.
"We'll have a much deeper team experience wise," Cole said. "We're pretty balanced among seniors, juniors, sophomore and freshmen, and that's nice to have instead of having the cupboard bare. We have some really good senior leadership with Hannah, Sydney and Cailan. I'm optimistic about our attitude and eagerness to improve, and to stick our noses in there and be more competitive in the conference and at regionals. There's some talent there and they've put in the work. We'll see if they can make some noise."
Stewart, a fifth-year senior and native of Lawrence, Kansas, comes off her best season. She recorded a new 5K personal best (17:18.8) at the Chile Pepper Festival, led the Wildcats in the 6K (21:52.4) at the Big 12 Championships, and ran the best postseason race of her career with a 6K time of 20:57.8 at the NCAA Midwest Regionals.
"I just remember breaking 21 minutes at the regionals, and it was a fun race," Stewart says. "A lot of us reached personal bests, and it was a fun way to end the season. It motivates me a lot and it also motivates me that there are girls improving around me as well, and who have a like-minded mindset of wanting to be better than last year and making sure we're peaking at championship time. A lot of our conversations are based around that.
"It's about being patient this year because we'll be good when we need to be good. Coach is training us the way we need to be trained and trusting the process is exciting. Everyone is looking forward to the potential we have this season."
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