Women picked to finish 9th, men 10th in preseason poll

With the first meet of the season rapidly approaching, the CSC cross country teams have been busy training for the season.

“They must have done a good job logging summer miles,” Head Coach Brian Medigovich said. “It’s all on their own in the summer but they are all in really good shape.”

Medigovich said that the women’s team has a lot of new faces while the men’s team has a lot of depth.

Nicky Banzhaf, senior of Chadron, and Alyse Henry, sophomore of Rock Springs, Wyoming, have redshirted this season. Banzhaf suffered an injury but Medigovich said he was planning on redshirting her before the injury occurred.

According to Medigovich, Margaret Vinton, junior of North Platte, will lead the women’s team but the rest will be “unpredictable” due to the amount of freshmen on the team.

“I still have good expectations for them,” he said. “They can run really fast.”

The women’s team was picked to finish 9th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll with 96 points. Adams State, Alamosa, Colorado, is picked as the conference’s top team with 194 points.

On the men’s side however, Alejandro Garcia, graduate senior of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, will return as one of the team’s top runners. Garcia redshirted last year but made a large impact during the indoor track season.

Dylan Stansbury, senior of Crawford, will also return this year. Stansbury placed 27th at the regional meet last season, just two spots out of an All-Region nod.

The men’s team landed 10th in the preseason conference poll with 77 points. Colorado School of Mines is predicted to win the conference, grabbing 191 points in the poll.

“This should be the best guys team we’ve ever had at Chadron State,” Medigovich said. “Black Hills will be a big rival. I think our team can line up pretty close to them.”

The teams will open their season Friday, Sept. 2, in Rapid City, South Dakota, at South Dakota School of Mines.