(LEWISTON, ID) – Warrior Cross Country races into 2024 with high expectations, as well as new challenges, on Friday. The LC State men return a lineup full of experience at the national level, while the women feature a revamped roster. Both will start the season in the NAIA’s top 25 with the men at No. 13 and the women at No. 14.
Head Coach Mike Collins returns to lead the program for his 28th season. The teams have a lot of history on the line heading into the year with streaks of advancing to nationals well into double-digit years.
The Warriors open the season on Friday at the Clash of the Inland Northwest, hosted by Eastern Washington in Cheney.
THE TEAMS
The Warrior men will be led by a strong group, highlighted by the five Warriors that combined to earn All-American honors in both the indoor and outdoor 4x800m relays. Carter Gordon, the indoor 800m National Champion, leads the group of four seniors that includes Conner May, Cooper Carlson and Griffen Parsells. Not to be left out is junior Kobe Wessels, the lone cross country All-American for the men last season. The Lewiston native blossomed late in the season to lead the pack at both the conference meet and national meet.
“Our expectations are high,” Collins said. “Many of these guys came back for one more semester because of cross country. Their goals are very high and their commitment level may be unprecedented.”
The LC State women returns a roster that is less experienced, but no less hungry. The Warriors graduated top runners Geraldin Correa and Brooklyn Shell but return junior Grace Tiegs who was a member of the women’s indoor 4x800m relay that placed third at nationals and brought home All-American honors. Seniors Grace McCormick and Abigail Shumaker, an All-Cascade Conference honoree in the 10,000m, will also look to make an impact in their final seasons.
It is the newcomers who will also be looked to for big contributions this season, including Spokane Falls CC transfer Camille Ussher, and freshmen Lily Bennett and Damaris Kibiwot. Junior track standout Emily Collins will also try her hand at longer distances to make an impact.
“Returners will likely be led by Grace Tiegs and Abby, but we expect significant contributions by Camille, Lily and Damaris from the beginning,” Collins said. “Additionally, Grace McCormick and hopefully Mercy (Cherono) will be factors as we get them up to speed, as well as Emily as she has decided to run in a few meets for us this fall.”
THE SCHEDULE
Also different this year is the look of the LC State schedule. The Warriors will run most of the meets with both the men’s and women’s teams in attendance, but each team will also race at a meet without the other. The men will compete in Columbia, Mo., the site of the NAIA National Championships, while the women will race at a meet in Crete, Neb.
“With the men’s team looking at trying to earn a podium spot, we felt getting on the national course and running against some other nationally ranked teams early on will help us in our preparations for the end of the year,” Collins explained. “For the women, it is a little different. We knew coming in that we would be small and that our depth could be an issue. Raters have pretty short-term memories so we hope that running late in the season, with the assumption that we can and will run well, will help us in the ballots at the end of the year which may be the deciding factor for returning to nationals.”
The rest of the Cascade Conference will be facing similar competition with four men’s teams and three women’s teams in the top 25. The College of Idaho leads both genders for the CCC, with the C of I women doing so as defending NAIA National Champions.
“As always, a tough conference,” Collins said. “The top end teams are good every year. You can count on it. What I have been seeing is that those teams that are often in the middle of the pack or at the back have also taken some pretty significant steps in getting better so it will be very challenging from top to bottom.”
The Cascade Conference Championships will be held in Portland this season on Nov. 8. The 2024 NAIA Cross Country National Championships will follow in Columbia, Mo., on Nov. 2
