UNCA ends cross country season strong

The men’s and women’s cross country teams gained valuable experience during the Southeast Regional meet last weekend.

A total of 35 teams from all over the Southeast competed in the meet in Louisville, Ky. The men ran a distance of 8k and the women ran 6k.

Although the Bulldogs finished 31st overall on both sides, their aim was gaining experience, according to Head Coach Jesse Norman.

“We went to get experience, so we’ll get better for next year,” he said.

Not only did the Bulldogs walk away with experience, freshman standout Melanie Kulesz broke the freshman 6k record by one second with a time of 22:52.

“I had two goals for the regional meet,” the Tennessee native said. “The first was to beat all the Western girls, and the second was to get the freshman record.”

Kulesz beat all the WCU girls and left Kentucky having accomplished both of her goals.

“Our goal was to do better than we did last year, and we did that,” said distance runner Adam Schnapp.

Sam Maynard, a sophomore for the team, agreed with Schnapp.

“We went in with no expectations and we accomplished what we expected,” he said.

Freshmen Claire Powell and Alyska Kalmeijer, also contributed good performances as well as senior Rachel Ambrosia, for the women’s side, while junior Jay Barringer and sophomore Schnapp led the men.

“We felt very satisfied about our performances,” Schnapp said. “We did what we needed to do and feel very strong going in to the indoor track season.”

A week before regionals the Bulldogs competed in the Big South Conference meet in Winston-Salem. The women came in sixth place over a 5k course, and the men clinched fifth running the 8k loop.

Scoring for both teams were Kulesz, Claire Powell, Emma Bussard, Kalmaijer and Rachel Ambrosia, Eliud Chirchir, Sam Maynard, Kent Rankin, Barringer and Adam Vick.

Kulesz’s 10th place finish in a time of 19:18 earned her all-conference honors, and Barringer’s 30th place in a time of 27:47 proved to be crucial in scoring enough points to secure their fifth place slot.

“Conference went OK,” Norman said. “Jay (Barringer) was the one who saved the men’s team, and Melanie (Kulesz) got all-conference, which is pretty exciting.”

Kulesz is the first lady Bulldog in three years to receive all-conference honors since Emily Mase finished in ninth place in 2006.

“I was really happy because that was my goal all season,” she said about her achievement. “It just makes me excited for track.”

Although the men’s side came in the same place they did last year, the girls’ sixth place finish was an improvement from last season’s eighth place.

Aside from the new freshmen talent from Kulesz and Powell, it is the new team morale which helped develop the cross country runners’ performances, according to redshirt sophomore and distance runner Michelle Busse.

“There’s lots of really good energy, which carried on to better runs,” she said. “It’s really helped them to train and race together.”

On a more tactical level, the women’s team has also worked on “packing,” a technique used by distance runners to improve team times and individual performances by running together in a pack.

“The girls worked really hard at their racing strategy and packing up as a whole,” said Busse.

The men’s team also picked up on the idea.

“We are working on increasing our pack time and running in a team better,” said sophomore Maynard. “If one person gets faster, the team gets better.”

Making an impact toward improving the team is sophomore Eliud Chirchir. Born in Kenya, Chirchir ran for the University of Wyoming’s Cowboys before transferring to UNC Asheville at the start of this year.

“Eli (Chirchir) has stepped in and became an immediate leader,” said Maynard. “He set the pace and standard for the whole team.”

Chirchir is already putting in encouraging performances for cross country, including a 15th place 26:49 at conference.

Another newcomer for the men’s side this year is freshman distance runner Chris Murray, who, according to teammates, is getting better by repeatedly getting lost on his long runs.

“He always ends up running like two or three miles too long,” Schnapp said. “But it’s OK because we always find him.”

With the regional meet signaling the end of the cross country season, the squad now looks forward to their indoor season which starts in less than a month.

“I’m very excited,” Norman said about the shift from cross to indoors. “The distance kids are all excited and I’m ready to switch gears.”

The “distance kids” certainly are excited and have high hopes for the indoor competitions.

“Our goal is to kick ass,” Rankin said. “We have new runners who can make an impact, and we want to score in all our events.”

This energy is also shared over on the women’s side.

“I am so excited about the track season,” Kulesz said. “I’m not used to having a team with all the different events, and so it will just be really great.”

The cross country begins the indoor season at Appalachian State University on Dec. 5.

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