For the first time since the covid-19 pandemic, John Brown's cross country teams trekked out to the Pacific Northwest for a week-long training camp prior to the 2022 season.
The Golden Eagles spent Aug. 8-15 at a camp outside of Mt. Ranier National Park in Washington with cooler running temperatures, higher elevation and altitude challenges.
"Everybody was really excited and the team was ready to go," said head coach Scott Schochler. "It was really nice for our team."
Schochler said the top runners got in between 70 and 75 miles in that week, while others got varying totals of miles, "depending on how ready they were in the summer."
Now back home and back in school, the Golden Eagles are set for their first competition of the fall on Thursday, Sept. 1, in the Rogers State Invitational in Claremore, Okla.
The team's first full distance race (men 8K, women 5K) will be at the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo.
For the first time in several seasons, the women's team will be without All-American Allika Pearson leading the way.
"There's going to be some adjustment there," Schochler said.
Two of the top women runners from last year return in senior Emerson Turner (Coweta, Okla.) and junior Sarah Smith (Centerton).
Other returners include seniors Adrianna Feaster (Friendswood, Texas), Lainee Stiver (Germantown, Ohio) and Rachel Thompson from Siloam Springs; junior Avery Edwards (Wichita, Kan.) and sophomores Emma Brown (Trophy Club, Texas), Ryleigh Hale (Coweta) and Olivia Scates of Pea Ridge.
The Golden Eagles have eight freshmen runners, many of whom could make an immediate impact.
Hope Ahnfeldt of Colorado Springs, Lexi Scheufler of Wichita, and Lisbeth Vazques of Pea Ridge are three that have stood out.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," Schochler said. "There's a learning curve, but I'm optimistic we can continue to have some strong results at the front of races."
Other freshman are Evie Elder (McPherson, Kan.), Bella Melgren (Wichita), Angela Hernandez-Monroy (Dallas), Emma Morton (Van Buren) and Naia Sheperd (Piedmont, Okla.).
"Any of them could end up in top five to seven runners and a couple of other returners that if they start racing well, we could have a nice large group that performs really well in the middle to the end of the season," Schochler said.
Men
The JBU men return all of their top runners from a year ago.
Top runner Jean-Benoit Merte (Munster, Germany), a junior, returns after a successful summer where he finished fifth in the German Under-20 SteepleChase Championships.
"He's running very well and we're excited to see what he does this year," Schochler said.
No. 2 runner Josiah Petak (Monument, Colo.) is back for his sophomore campaign after a successful freshman stint in 2021.
"He should be even stronger this year and he looked great at training camp," Schochler said.
Senior Jadin Whiting (Flagstaff, Ariz.) and Jake Hagood (Carrollton, Texas) have looked good as well, he said.
Junior Matt Roehr (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is in his third year of running has come in ready to go, the coach said.
Other upperclassmen include senior Drew Birnbaum (Prairie Village, Kan.) and junior Kai Thng of Tulsa, Okla.
Sophomores include Johnny Dunfee of Gravette, Abram Gruen (Edmond, Okla.), Daniel Haefli (Arlington, Texas) and Drew Janzen (Burns, Kan.).
The Golden Eagles are adding two freshmen to the program in Matthew Cook (Costa Rica) and Chase Schermer (Bend, Ore.).
Schochler said Schermer ran a 5K time of 15 minutes, 55 seconds in high school.
"That may be one of the fastest times we've had for an incoming freshman," Schochler said. "The distance obviously changes for the men a lot more from high school to college, and there's some adjusting to college racing. He's starting to buy into our training system and we're excited to see what he does."
Cook is an athlete that JBU is excited to work in cross country and track and field in the spring.
"He's a high level elite 800 (meters) runner," Schochler said. "Certainly, he's the fastest 800 runner we've had at JBU."
Schochler also said the cross country program has three assistant coaches this fall. Two of them, Peter Cunningham and Ben Ledbetter, have been volunteers but are now officially on staff. The third, Mason Blevins, is a graduate assistant.
"All competed at a high level in college and will be a great addition to the program and a huge benefit to our athletes," Schochler said.
Photo courtesy of JBU Sports Information Sophomore runner Josiah Petak is back among the top competitors for the John Brown University cross country teams.