Cross country thrives in home meet to begin season
Men take top six spots, women finish second, third and fourth
The Central Michigan University men’s and women’s cross country teams showed their strength at their first meet of the season against Michigan State and Alma in the Jeff Drenth Memorial Run at the Pleasant Hills Golf Course.
The men’s team was lead by the grouping of seniors Nate Ghena (15:29.46), Silas Dekalita (15:29.56) and sophomore Joseph Emmanuel (15:29.59), who finished first, second and third, respectively in the 5K. The Chippewas had the top six runners overall and lead the race the entire way.
“It’s nice to see that everyone’s in great shape,” Ghena said. “We couldn’t ask for much better of a start.”
Sophomore Kirsten Olling (17:27) lead the way for the women’s team, finishing in second place. Olling lead the race most of the way before falling to second near the end.
“I was pretty happy with how it went overall,” said Olling. “I kind of went for it at the start and it may have hurt me in the end.”
Senior Kelly Schubert (17:55) and redshirt freshman Megan O’Neil (18:08) finished third and fourth respectively behind Olling to round out the top four in the women’s race.
Erin McDonald from Michigan State won the women’s race with a time of 17:23.
Head Coach Matt Kaczor was pleased with his team, even though the top runners from MSU did not race.
“We’re working on race strategies and weaknesses at this point,” said Kaczor. “Our pack is starting to round out.”
Both the Chippewas and Spartans were using this race to judge where certain runners will fit in the lineup this coming season.
Jeff Drenth, the race’s namesake, was a Central Michigan Cross Country and Distance Runner for the Chippewas in the early 1980s. He was the individual MAC cross country champion in back-to-back years (1982-83), and ran for the United States National Team at meets in Russia and Japan in 1985 after graduating from CMU.
He died in 1986 while training at the Olympic Training Center in California. He still holds the school record for the 10,000 Meters at CMU.
The Chippewas next meet is in East Lansing for the Spartan Invite on Sept. 18.
