GREENWOOD, Ind. – The landscape around the Great Midwest Athletic Conference men’s and women’s cross country scene has continually changed and the upcoming fall promises to be another intriguing one.

The Midwest Region remains tough as nails and limited allocations to the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will need to be earned through regionals in Evanston, Ind.

The Midwest Region will have five teams on the men’s side advance to nationals after running at Southern Indiana during NCAA Regionals instead of four teams in 2014. The women also received an increased number of qualifiers, jumping from four to six.

The 2015 G-MAC Championships will be held in Elkins, W.Va., hosted by Davis & Elkins after being conducted in Owensboro, Ky., last year.

Like the rest of the fall sports, G-MAC coaches and selected student-athletes shared their preseason thoughts on the upcoming season. A few questions to ponder before the racing begins include:

How much has the gap narrowed between Cedarville at the top and the rest of the G-MAC?
The G-MAC has not seen a conference cross country championship program other than Cedarville? Will that change in 2015?
How does Trevecca Nazarene’s men answer the call after being picked first in the preseason coaches poll?
Will new coaches Brian Hesson (Ohio Valley), Alaric Best (Ursuline) and Patrick Stanton (Salem International), see the improvement they want to make in year one?
Can the G-MAC send any qualifiers to Joplin, Mo., for the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships?
Will Logan Rodgers and Caroline Hampton, both from Trevecca Nazarene, repeat as G-MAC Runners of the Year?

Teams below are listed in alphabetical order for the G-MAC season preview.

ALDERSON BROADDUS BATTLERS Head Coach: Jesse Weiner 2014 G-MAC Cross Country Championship Finish: (4th/8 – men) (3rd/9 – women) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (men): N/A 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (women): (Jenny Brewer, first team; Hannah Surface, second team)

2015 Outlook: Senior Jenny Brewer anchors a strong Alderson Broaddus contingent on the women’s side and combines to make a formidable 1-2 combo with Hannah Surface at the top.

Brewer was the runner-up in the G-MAC Championship last year while Surface was a second-team all-conference honoree.

Head Coach Jesse Weiner has a class of four freshmen newcomers and a new assistant coach with Earl Graves (formerly of Frostburg State) joining the fold in the offseason.

John Mundey graduated from the men’s side after earning second-team all-conference status last fall. As a sophomore, Scott Nesland will look to lead a youthful roster that has no seniors.

 

CEDARVILLE YELLOW JACKETS Head Coach: Paul Orchard (men); Head Coach: Jeff Bolender (women) 2014 G-MAC Cross Country Championship Finish: (1st/8 – men) (1st/9 – women) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (men): (Zac Bowen; Daniel Michalski; Matt Pelletier; Benjamin Tuttle) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (women): (Carsyn Koch; Olivia Esbenshade; Rachel Groh; Hailey Bredeson  Kristen Laaman; Nicole Watterud)

2015 Outlook: The Yellow Jackets are loaded on both sides again this year and until anyone can dethrone the reigning three-time conference champs, the title is Cedarville’s until someone takes it away.

Despite the departure of Clay Watson, senior Benjamin Tuttle is back after receiving a medical redshirt.

G-MAC Freshman of the Year Zac Bowen is ready for year two while track and field standout Daniel Michalski flies under the radar despite being a first team all-conference runner. The Cedarville men is still the only program to advance to the NCAA Championship meet (both in 2012 and 2013).

The Cedarville women have just as much depth with four first team all-conference performers. Sophomore Carsyn Koch will look to follow a strong rookie campaign while Olivia Esbenshade and Rachel Groh enter their junior seasons.

Two-time G-MAC Runner of the Year Alexandra Archambault would have been a senior this year, but is not on the 2015 roster.

Cedarville’s Elvin R. King course on campus will again host the Friendship Invitational (Sept. 19) and the All-Ohio Championship (Oct. 2).

Seven more freshmen have been added to the women’s roster with eight more stocked on the men’s side.

 

DAVIS & ELKINS SENATORS Head Coach: Will Shaw 2014 G-MAC Cross Country Championship Finish: (3rd/8 – men) (4th/9 – women) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (men): (Shane Ickes, second team) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (women): N/A

2015 Outlook: The road to the 2015 G-MAC Championships runs through Elkins, W.Va., where head coach Will Shaw has detailed some of the course description on the D&E campus property.

Davis & Elkins also hosts the Forest Festival Invitational on opening weekend of the regular season, a field that features G-MAC schools Ohio Valley, Salem International and Alderson Broaddus.

Shaw has been in the business for over 30 years and as he gets ready to begin another season, remains optimistic about his program’s chances in 2015.

“We are just now finishing up the changes to the course,” Shaw said. “It’s going to reflect that we’re in the mountains and not out in the Midwest. It is a European style course with open rolling fields. There will be woodland trails, steep uphill and downhill and two creek crossings for the women and four creek crossings for the men.”

The men will be led by Shane Ickes, who has his sights set on first team all-conference accolades after earning second-team honors last year. Gone is steady senior Ellen Cantaral on the women’s side.

Shaw is keeping up with the times and offered interesting insight with evolution of the sport since he started coaching.

“It seems like the naturalness of the sport has given way to more technology (GPS watches getting exact pace per mile),” he observed. “That’s different. What isn’t different is the kids (staying in contact and seeing them grow and develop) with all of those clichés that we sometimes use. It keeps me young at age 75.

 

KENTUCKY WESLEYAN PANTHERS Head Coach: Tony Rowe 2014 G-MAC Cross Country Championship Finish: (5th/8 – men) (5th/9 – women) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (men): N/A 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (women): (Rachel Keeley, second team)

  
2015 Outlook: Year two of the Tony Rowe era gets underway with the Panthers gunning for the upper tier of teams in the league. After finishing fifth in the conference meet, both men and women, the program is looking forward to the next step.

KWC hosted the G-MAC Championships in Owensboro and have several building blocks for the immediate future.

Rachel Keeley enters her sophomore year after being an all-conference selection as a rookie. Although the 2015 roster has not been released, homegrown product Alex Velez is back along with Morgan Exum.

The women’s roster will presumably stay young with no seniors and three juniors.

The Panthers’ men return their top four runners in Seth Applegate, Seth Burnette, Michael Polio and Bryant Qualls. Applegate was the G-MAC Athlete of the Week last year following a weekend event.



 

OHIO VALLEY FIGHTING SCOTS Head Coach: Brian Hesson 2014 G-MAC Cross Country Championship Finish: (6th/8 – men) (6th/9 – women) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (men): (Andrew Shaffer, second team) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (women): (April Kirk, second team)

   
2015 Outlook: The Fighting Scots are also entering a new coaching era with Brian Hesson. He will have two all-conference runners to work with, upperclassmen Andrew Shaffer and April Kirk. 

Hesson built up an All-SEC resume while running at the University of Alabama. He was inducted into the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame and recognized as one of the “Legends of OVAC Member Schools” in mid-August.

Like Kentucky Wesleyan, OVU finished the same for both men and women last year in the conference meet.

Hesson has a class of five freshmen women and three more rookie men.

 

SALEM INTERNATIONAL TIGERS Head Coach: Patrick Stanton 2014 G-MAC Cross Country Championship Finish: (7th/8 – men) (9th/9 – women) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (men): N/A 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (women): N/A

  
2015 Outlook: The Tigers have a new head coach, Patrick Stanton, and a lot of youth on each roster as they transition into the fall.

The men’s roster has five freshmen listed while the women’s roster has four freshmen activated.

SIU will be heading to the Davis & Elkins-hosted Forest Festival Invitational during the opening weekend of competition.

TREVECCA NAZARENE TROJANS Head Coach: Austin Selby 2014 G-MAC Cross Country Championship Finish: (2nd/8 – men) (2nd/9 – women) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (men): (Logan Rodgers; Ben Moroney; Taylor Flemming; Brandon Laws; Josh Winskie) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (women): (Caroline Hampton; Biz Mclendon; Jackie Sendewicz)

2015 Outlook: Coaches around the league think a changing of the guard may be in store for the Trojans on the men’s side thanks to five returning all-conference runners.

The TNU men were picked first the preseason coaches poll by a narrow margin and the chase will be on this season.

G-MAC Runner of the Year Logan Rodgers gets better and better each year and he still remains just a junior heading into the fall. Head coach Austin Selby was named the G-MAC Coach of the Year for the men as Ben Moroney, Taylor Flemming, Brandon Laws and Josh Winskie, all landed all-conference plaudits.

The Trojans boasted both conference runners of the year as freshman Caroline Hampton stole the women’s show in Owensboro, Ky., last season.

TNU was second only to Cedarville and with Biz Mclendon and Jackie Sendewicz both returning, remain a legitimate threat to potentially unseating the Yellow Jackets. 

 

URSULINE ARROWS Head Coach: Alaric Best 2014 G-MAC Cross Country Championship Finish: (8th/9 – women) 2014 All-G-MAC Returners (women): N/A

2015 Outlook: The Arrows have welcomed in first-year head coach Alaric Best from the University of New Haven, another Division II institution in Connecticut.

Best arrived on the scene in Pepper Pike in mid-July, aiming to improve on the team’s eighth-place finish at the conference championships last fall.

Four freshmen have been added, including three from Ohio, while three seniors and sophomore Jes Hicks represent returning experience. The Arrows had track & field standouts Tori Abdul, Nicole Burlinson and Diona Roberts, on the roster last year.

Hicks had a trio of top-10 finishes as a freshman and dual-sport athlete Eadaoin Cronin (golf) had UC’s best placing in the G-MAC Championship.