The Massachusetts cross-country teams will begin their season at home this Saturday against select teams from the Northeast.
The Minutemen, a team loaded with seniors and freshmen, will look to accomplish a “variety of goals,” according to men’s coach Ken O’Brien.
O’Brien knows what he will be getting from his seniors. However, he is hoping to get his freshmen accustomed to the longer races in college.
At the start of the season, O’Brien does not necessarily want or need his team to exceed its times and finishes from the end of last season, but to maintain a consistency. At the very least he wants the team to be near the same times they were at this time last year.
On Saturday O’Brien expects the University of Connecticut to be near the top of the standings as it returns a “good, young team,” but the rest of the competition should be evenly-matched.
The Huskies are coming off of a second place finish in the Fairfield Invitational.
The Maroon and White hope to top UConn by riding the shoulders of Kevin Johnson, who highlights this group of seniors expected to take a significant leadership position.
Meanwhile, the Minutewomen will also host a home meet at the Wysocki fields. They will host Boston College, Amherst, Maine, and Vermont.
UMass will look to rebound from an eighth place finish in last week’s BC Invitational.
Women’s coach Julie LaFreniere said that the Eagles will definitely be the strongest team there. LaFreniere expects her team to be a lot more aggressive in its racing.
“They’re capable of running with the competition,” LaFreniere said. “I want to see a big team effort.”
UMass will have to compete without one of its veterans, Lauren Stocker, who will miss her second consecutive race with a nagging foot injury she sustained in training.
LaFreniere maintains that the Minutewomen have enough people to run well together and that they should be fine.
Sophomore Courtney Baldwin is one of the runners LaFreniere expects to finish in the top five.
“Baldwin is gutsy,” LaFreniere said.
Junior Karen Roa is another runner LaFreniere expects well of. Roa has been leading the team in practices.
LaFreniere believes one of the keys to success this weekend is getting off the line hard and staying up front.
Eric Mansfield can be reached at [email protected].
