GREENWOOD, Ind. – Cedarville University will look to defend back-to-back Great Midwest Athletic Conference men’s cross country crowns when the new season officially rolls around later this month.
The first scheduled day of competition officially breaks the seal on the 2014-15 academic year for the G-MAC, which crowned the Yellow Jackets of Cedarville as the men’s and women’s champions again last year at the conference meet.
This fall’s men’s and women’s conference championships are scheduled for Saturday, November 8, in Owensboro, Ky., with Kentucky Wesleyan University serving as host.
On the men’s side, the top two runners from Cedarville, two-time G-MAC champion/NCAA All-American Matt Brooker (24:42.20 – 2013 G-MAC Championships 8k time) and Joe Niemiec (25:34.50) have both graduated, but the cupboard is far from bare of talent with a trio of Yellow Jacket seniors poised to step to the forefront.
CU seniors Ben Tuttle (25:34.70), Clay Watson (26:09.40) and Matt Cheney (26:10.60), are returning first-team all-conference honorees for reigning G-MAC Coach of the Year Paul Orchard.
The trio placed third, fourth and fifth, in order last year on the conference postseason stage before Cedarville finished 15th as a team in Washington at the NCAA Division II Championships.
“We lose a good group, but that group left a great legacy behind,” Orchard said. “We’re hoping that with what they were able to do with the returning runners -- getting back to that level is where we want to be.”
“I think that’s always one of our top goals (is to win the conference meet),” he added. “We don’t take anything for granted; teams are getting better every year.”
Orchard, entering his 12th season at the helm, also has a combined five additional first and second-team all-conference performers returning on his roster this fall.
His program was ranked No. 15 in the 2013 Preseason U.S Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Poll and finished out the year 17th in the rankings following the national efforts.
The Yellow Jackets are also moving forward following the graduation of First-Team All-G-MAC selection Neil Klinger and second-team pick Greg Johnson.
The 2014 Preseason USTFCCCA Div. II Poll will be released on Wednesday, September 3. The preseason regional rankings are set to be announced the day prior with several teams vying for early recognition.
“We encourage each other really well,” said Tuttle, the top G-MAC returner and a native of Eastport, N.Y. ”We have the attitude that if you’re willing to work hard, you should be at the top of the pack; as long you’re putting in the work, you deserve to up there.”
Logan Rodgers of Trevecca University, who was named the G-MAC Freshman of the Year in 2013 and his returning first-team all-conference teammate Ben Moroney, also bolsters the talented men’s field while trying to close the gap at the pinnacle of the league.
Rodgers (26:23.90) and Moroney (26:39.70) finished sixth and seventh, respectively in the 2013 edition of the conference championships.
Ohio Valley University’s Andrew Shaffer (26:50.00) was also among the G-MAC top-10 performers and Cedarville’s Wyatt Hartman (26:55.60) joined Trevecca’s freshmen duo of Rodgers and Moroney on the first-team member list.
The overall depth within the conference figures to remain strong with seven of the 10 second-team All-G-MAC performers from a year ago also factoring into the mix.
The 2014 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be held on Dec. 6 in Louisville, Ky., at Tom Sawyer Park.
NOTE: Preseason polls were not conducted by the coaches for cross country
2013 G-MAC Men’s Cross Country Championships Results
1. Cedarville University
2. Trevecca University
3. Davis & Elkins College
4. Ohio Valley University
5. Alderson Broaddus University
6. Kentucky Wesleyan College
7. Salem International University
8. Central State University