The College Reporter
Franklin & Marshall College
Cross Country Season Preview
August 29, 2009
In sports, as in life, there are always lovable losers never seem to come out on top, no matter how hard they try.
For Centennial Conference cross country, Franklin & Marshall fills that role, but second year coach John Stoudt is looking to change that losing attitude.
Last year, both the men’s and women’s teams suffered last place rankings in the league, and neither team has placed higher than 4th since 2000. In the Centennial Conference championships last year, the men’s team finished 256 points out of first place, while the women’s team finished 180 points behind conference champions John’s Hopkins.
Coach Stoudt enters his second season with the program and is optimistic about his team’s upcoming season.
“We can only get better than last season. We will be better.” Stoudt said. “Our goal is to beat a few people and improve as a whole. We finished last season with only five runners; this season we will have ten freshmen alone, so things are looking up.”
Stoudt’s optimism stems from his strong recruiting class, the first group of freshmen he has brought in as head coach.
“Not only do I hope that the freshmen will contribute, I expect them to. Our recruits chose to come to Franklin & Marshall, and knew that by making that choice they were going to have to step right in and compete immediately.”
One challenge that the team faces is the strong competition they go up against in the Centennial Conference, which features four teams in the Mideast Region’s top ten in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s preseason rankings.
“We’re in an outstanding conference,” Stoudt said. “One of the tops for cross country in all of D-III, so we’re going up against a lot”
The team must once again overcome their lack of veteran leadership in order to string some wins together. The men’s team, which lost no seniors last year, is looking to build on their experiences from last season. The women’s team lost three seniors, none of whom were among their top twelve runners.
“We’re a very young team for both men and women, and we have a lot of work to do.” said Coach Stoudt.
Stoudt also is looking forward to his first full season as head coach, and is seeking vast improvement from the team as a whole.
“For me, last year was tough, this season really feels like my first season. Last year I wasn’t able to bring in my own athletes and a few of our runners had no experience at all. It was a challenge because I had to take it easy with some of our freshmen runners. This year, our new runners all have very impressive resumes, and I am confident they will be able to step it up. We’ve been doing lots and running and putting in lots of mileage to prepare for the season.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams will start their seasons on September 5th at the Delaware Valley College Invitational.