Despite the lack of experience in the men’s cross country team, they finished the season with an average performance.
With three freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors, they averaged a seventh place in all tournaments combined with wins in two meets. In Coach Chris England’s eyes, this is a great accomplishment for the Panthers.
“There are several factors. We have a lot more walk-ons for the men, so that definitely hinders their contributions to the team,” England said. “The competitors were more difficult. In the meets they did win it came down to the wire to do it, whereas our women have had success in the past.”
Due to the young age of the team, the runners have had to adjust to the level of competition, and they are still working on becoming more poised.
“Men are still trying to find that confidence. And now that they’ve had a taste of it, we hope to see more in the future,” he said.
Despite the lack of a senior runner to lead them, the team makes up for it with their desire to attain victories.
“I would say our team is full of silent leaders,” England said. “We don’t have a strong vocal captain on either squad, but what we do have is a team deep in personalities that want to succeed.”
But even with such a growing process, the team has far exceeded expectations. The team even the high demands placed upon them by Coach England.
“Well exceeded expectations,” he said. “We’ve met most of those goals, and exceeded them.”
Coach England has a past that includes two All-American teams while running for Ohio State University, so one can imagine that kind of work he expects.
England said to be “maybe more physically demanding.”
However, he believes his runners will not have a problem with managing to accomplish those demands.
“At this point the student-athletes can handle those demands, where in previous years I had to tone it down a bit,” England said.
Coach England’s exacting demands have led to several members from the team obtaining All-CAA awards over the last few years. Junior Valentin Poncelet is the perfect example, as he qualified for the first All-CAA team and is a likely nomination this year.
“Personalities like to succeed, no matter what they do,” England said. “Whether it’s running, straight A’s in the classroom, even competitions at ultimate frisbee; they just want to succeed at all that they do.”
Season Results (place/number of teams)
Clemson Invitational 2nd/2
GSU Invitational 1st/4
Commodore Classic 18th/24
West Georgia Invitational 2nd/10
Jaguar Invite 1st/11
Chile Pepper Invitational 19th/34
Sun Belt Championship 7th/12
NCAA South Regional 17th/26
