Cross Country Previews Season at Media Day

Junior Hannah Richardson (left) and senior Jacob Morgan (right) discussed their goals for the upcoming season with members of the media Wednesday.LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas head cross country coach Stanley Redwine covered a lot of ground during his annual address to the media at fall sport media Wednesday afternoon. The 16-year man at KU discussed both the men’s and women’s teams’ depth in the upcoming season as well as his programs’ opportunity to host the NCAA Midwest Regional at Rim Rock Farm in November. Following opening statements and a question and answer session for the coach, the solid media turnout broke into groups across the room to interview student-athletes.
 
Kansas head cross country coach Stanley Redwine
Opening statement:
“Thanks everyone for being here. We’re really excited about our upcoming season for both the men and the women. Last year was a little disappointing, to be honest. We had a really young group. We focused on trying to run together as a pack for both the men and the women. I felt like we did that, but we were further back than where we wanted to be. The athletes have come back in really good shape now in order to correct both of those. Our men’s side will be led by Jacob Morgan who was the Newcomer of the Year for the Big 12 last year. He also went to the NCAA meet and was 91st there. Evan Landes, who were redshirted last year, will also be back. So we’ll have the experience up front and we have better depth on the men’s side this year.”
 
“On the women’s side, Hannah Richardson redshirted last year and she’ll be back this year so we’re excited about that along with Nashia Baker, who led the team last year. We’ll be much better depth-wise there. On the women’s side we also have seven juniors, who all have an opportunity to be in our top seven along with some newcomers who could also be up there. Honestly I believe both the men’s and women’s teams will be better.
 
“In order for us to get to the NCAA meet this year, we’ll have to run well at home. We are hosting the regional meet this year – one of nine in the U.S. They take the top-two teams automatically and add teams at-large from there. If we can’t get motivated to run well at home, then we haven’t done our jobs. We’ll look forward to hosting that meet in November.”
 
On the home facilities (Rim Rock Farm and Rock Chalk Park) hosting NCAA regional meets in the coming year:
“I think it’s really good for the status of our facilities. Rim Rock Farm is a great facility and Coach (Bob) Timmons had a vision many years ago to have meets like this at Rim Rock. With that being said, we want to continue that vision and make sure we have teams that produce there. As far as Rock Chalk Park, it’s like no other. Once people and recruits starting seeing this, it’s going to be great. Now that the word is out, people are wanting to come and wanting to come to school here. Both facilities are phenomenal and we’re thankful, most recently, for the Fritzels and the things they’ve done at Rock Chalk Park and also for the vision that Coach Timmons had years ago at Rim Rock.”
 
On having home course advantage this season:
“Our first two meets are here at home. Our athletes will know the course well by the time the regional meet rolls around; when they need to move and how they need to move compared to the competition. The distance of the race maybe the same, but knowing the layout of the course will definitely help out our team.”
 
 
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