2016 Season Preview: Women's Cross Country
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's and women's cross country teams take off for the 2016 campaign on Friday, September 2 at the Bill Libby Invitational. This competition will be hosted by McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. It is one of two meets the Crusaders participate in this month.
Head Coach Matthew Barber (Class of 2012) enters his third season at the helm for UD's cross country team. His main goal in any given year is to see individual progress. Coach Barber states, "Every year I want to see progress from our athletes as individuals, proof that they are continuing to grow. But, as a team, we are aiming for the top half of the conference."
"Athlete to Athlete, there are different things each of them can focus on to succeed. But, as a team one of the things we are working on is smart racing." Coach Barber elaborated. "We cannot let the momentum and adrenaline of the race get us out of our zone early and have the mental fortitude to keep the middle miles steady. Everyone knows how to finish strong, having a real strong first two thirds will go a long way."
The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) will be held in Round Rock, Texas, this fall on October 29. In 2015, the women's team secured third place (97 points) with an average time of 27:22.0 minutes. Returning sophomore Bridget Kennedy (San Antonio, Texas) headlined the unit with a 15th place finish (25:29). Also back on this year's squad is senior Joey Danaher (Boulder, Colo.) who completed the race in 31st with a time of 28:21.5 minutes.
On the men's side, the Crusaders earned fourth place (105 points) and averaged a time of 31:23.8 minutes. UD graduated its top trio of runners on the team that race in Ryan McAnany (6th place individual), Javier Secaira, and Jack Grubner. However, current junior Peter deTar (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) and senior Matt Klem (Livermore, Calif.) both participated in that race as the fourth (32:59.4) and sixth (34:33.0) best runners on the team, respectively.
Coach Barber envisions all his returners taking steps forward this year.
"For the women, Senior Joey Danaher and Sophomore Bridget Kennedy are returning after strong 2015 seasons. They know they will both be consistently scoring for us again this year and are ready to perform. We are also thrilled to have Junior Angela Moore & Senior Elizabeth Herrera healthy again. Last season they both were with us every morning doing rehab to ensure they'd be strong for this season.
For the men, Matt Klem and Peter DeTar are primed to make a big impact. This is Peter's second year in the program and Matt's fourth, both have prepared to take another step forward this season." – Head Coach Matthew Barber on key returners making an impact
With 11 athletes listed on the women's cross country roster, and only four returners from last season's group, Barber's newcomers will have an opportunity to perform this season. The men's side is in a similar state, as five of the seven runners will suit up for the first time on Friday.
"For the women, we have 6 newcomers. Of them, Freshman Mary Korth and Junior Emily Cosgray have both impressed so far in practice.
For the men, we have 5 newcomers. Sophomore Thomas Hogan and Freshman John James look to make a huge difference for us following successful high school careers - Thomas took a year off running after arriving to UD." – Head Coach Matthew Barber on what he has seen the first week of practice from newcomers.
Dallas is looking at five meets in the regular season, before competing in the SCAC Championship and USCAA Championship. There are also opportunities for those who qualify to possibly run in the NCAA South/Southeast Regional Championship and NCAA National Championship in November.
One significant date for Crusader fans will be October 15, as the University of Dallas Invitational will be held consecutive years on the school's campus.
"Between the TLU Invitational and the UD home meet, we will have seen the majority of the SCAC schools, "Coach Barber stated. "We want to see how we compare to the competition that we will be seeing again at the end of the season."
Coach Barber was a student-athlete himself at the University of Dallas. A two-year letterwinner with the track and field program and a runner in his senior year with cross country, Barber shifted to the coaching side of UD Athletics in August, 2014.
"I love seeing each of our student-athletes succeed on the trails. But, over the course of a couple of weeks, when a couple of them run a personal best and somehow get their mid-term back with the grade they were looking for. That's the balance in life that I want to see in these athletes as a coach here." – Head Coach Matthew Barber on his favorite part of coaching at Dallas
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