2012 Cross Country Yearbook - Indiana State University Athletics

Women’s Cross Country 2012 Season PreviewIndiana State’s women made greatprogress as a team in both 2009 and2010 as they finished 4th in the MissouriValley Meet both years. The 2011team, despite high hopes and a verygood year overall, finished a very disappointingsixth in the MVC Meet heldon the Gibson Course. The 2012 teamwill be challenged to put 2011 behindthem and contend for an MVC Title.During Coach John Gartland’s 24 yeartenure as head women’s cross countrycoach, he has led the Sycamores to twoconference titles (1991 and 1993), andin 16 of those 24 years, Indiana Stateteams have finished in the top four ofthe conference. Those teams have finishedsecond in the MVC three times,third six times and fourth five times.Most recently, the Sycamore women’scross country team has placed thirdin the MVC Conference Meet in 2000,2001, and 2003.“This is a very hard team to predict,”said Gartland who is preparing to coachhis 25th women’s cross country teamat Indiana State. “Each woman hasrun very well at times but we have notbeen able to come through in biggercompetitions as a team.”The key losses from 2011 are KacieKlem, Andrea Prusz and Kristy Twitchell.In 2011, they were the Sycamoresfirst, third and fifth runners, respectively.“We will miss those three graduatedseniors very much,” said Gartland, whois a past Conference Coach of the Year.“Besides being very tough and competitiverunners, they were strong leaders.I hope someone can step up andtake their places in both areas. I lookforward to coaching this team becauseof the collective positive attitudes andwork ethic of the team members.”The top returner is junior JessicaZangmeister. Zangmeister made hugeprogress a year ago in both cross countryand track. She improved her crosscountry times to 18:20 and 21:50 whilerunning a time of 17:25.01 in the 5,000on the track this past spring. She finished11th in the MVC cross countryrace but came back strong outdoors toplace in both the 5,000 and the 10,000in the MVC Outdoor Meet. She is aformer Footlocker finalist who finished26th in that 2008 national race.The fight for positions after Zangmeisterwill be very close with a numberof runners vying for positions in thetop five. Kalli Dalton, a transfer fromMississippi State a year ago, madeprogress throughout the year. As herfitness improved, so did her racingprowess. She culminated her first seasonas a Sycamore by finishing thirdin the MVC Steeplechase, running astunning 10:47.31 to break the schoolrecord by five seconds. She looks to improveher 18:59 cross country 5k froma year ago.Nicole Lucas, one of the top highschool runners in Indiana in 2010, contributeda lot to the team in her freshmanyear. She now looks to step it upto a new level as she is familiar with theDivision I scene. Lucas ran 18:56 and22:44 in her freshman year.Val Burns had some very bright competitivemoments in her second year atIndiana State. She improved to 18:53and 23:36 in cross, and had a very nicebreakthrough indoors running 17:24.72for 5,000. Unfortunately, a non-runninginjury ended her outdoor season earlyand she will probably be red-shirted forthe cross country season.Hanna Mercer, a senior fromNorthridge, will also fight for a topfive position on the team. Mercer’s bigbreakthrough this past spring came inthe steeplechase, where she improvedto 10:57.24, third best in school history.She looks to take that improvement intocross where her steeplechase strengthwill help. Ashley Name has shownflashes of brilliance over her first twoyears at Indiana State but was slowedby injury for most of this past year. Sheshould be able to improve on her bestof 19:37, set during her freshmen year.Kylee Thacker, one of Indiana State’stop runners in 2010, redshirted the entire2011-12 year. She looks to regainher form from two years ago when sheran 18:56 and 23:12, and finished 38thin the MVC Cross Country Meet.Sydney Chapman is a newcomerGartland is excited to have. The formerstar from Hamilton Heights hasrun 18:46 over the 5k cross countrydistance. She has been one of thebest high school distance runners inIndiana over the past two years. TriciaJoll, Emily Cotterman, Alyson Johnson,and Holli Walker are the other freshmennew to the 2012 team. Joll andCotterman were members of the strong2011 Valparaiso and Terre Haute Northteams, respectively.The roster is full of other potentialcontributors for the Lady Sycamores.Terre Haute North grads Alexa McFaddenand Lindy Jones return in theirjunior years. Additionally, veterans EmilyMercer, Amy Hicks, Shelby Sands,Casey Boose, and Emily Qualls returnto give the Sycamores a lot of depthand a very large, yet competitive team“Our 2012 schedule will challengeus,” said Gartland. “After our first meet,we will compete every other week, allowingus to recover and train well inbetween. We will start our season atBradley on September 7th. A weeklater we will compete at the Intercollegiates,held this year on our GibsonCourse. We will again compete at theNotre Dame Invitational, where wehave been very competitive the pastfour years. The MVC Meet will be heldat Illinois State this year, and the GreatLakes Regional will be in Madison, Wis.,my hometown. We look forward to gettingsomeone qualified for the NCAAMeet, held this year in Louisville, Ky., atSawyer Park.”Gartland assesses the potential ofthe team this way:“We were all very disappointed theway the MVC came out a year ago,”said Gartland. “We ran very well leadingup to that meet and very well twoweeks after at the Regional Meet, butwe did not come through when weneeded to. This year we need to useour early meets as confidence buildersfor the big day on October 27. We needto stay healthy and have some of ouryounger runners develop quickly. Thechallenges will be fun.”Page A6Sycamore Cross Country 2012 Yearbook