Cross Country Announces 2018 Schedule

7/23/2018 2:00:00 PM | Track & Field/Cross Country

Head coach Keith Vroman has released Middle Tennessee's Cross Country schedule for the 2018 campai

By: @MTAthletics

The Middle Tennessee cross country program has released its schedule for the 2018 season, as announced by head coach Keith Vroman.

The teams will open with two meets in the state of Tennessee. The season begins at the Brooks Twilight Classic in Memphis on Sept. 1. The men's team finished last season's classic with four runners in the top 5 and won the meet with just 25 points. Kigen Chemadi will return to Memphis as the defending champion after he completed the four mile course in 19:46.26. The MT Women placed third last season with Rachel Kigen leading the team with a fourth place finish and a 5K time of 18:12.13.

The runners will enjoy a shorter trip on Sept 15. as they compete in the Commodore Classic. Both teams will be competing locally at Percy Warner Park in Nashville a year after the men brought home the team title with 64 points and three runners in the top 10.

"We typically use these first two races as a workout," said Coach Vroman. "We try to establish race strategies and figure out the team dynamic, since we typically run more as a team in both races. We might tell our runners to go out fast, get in a tempo, and try to finish fast or we may tell our team to go out slow and settle into more of a tempo run."

Two weeks later, the Blue Raiders will travel north to Kentucky to compete in the Greater Louisville Classic on Sept. 29. Jacob Choge led Middle Tennessee last season with a sixth place finish and a time of 23:36.53 while the team also finished sixth in a competitive field.

"Throughout our program's history, we've gone to Louisville with expectations of really seeing where we are as a team and figure out the little tweaks we need to make in October," Vroman stated. "This meet is a really good gauge for us as far as figuring out exactly what we need to do to finish out the season, what we're lacking, and what we need to do to reach our goal of a championship season."

After that, the teams will run in their final regular season meet when they travel to Texas for the Arturo Barrios Invitational in College Station on Oct 13.

"Texas A&M invited us to this meet because they wanted to build a small, but national caliber field with high-level teams from different regions of the country. We're excited to compete with so many championship contending teams like ours," added Vroman.

The postseason begins on Oct. 27 with the Conference USA Cross Country Championships, hosted by Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Florida. The MT men will look to repeat as team champions and Jacob Choge will be competing for his third individual title in a row. On the women's side, second team All-C-USA returner Rachel Kigan will look to build off of her 14^th place finish last year.

"This course will definitely be different than the last few conference meets," noted Coach Vroman. "We expect to be challenged by Charlotte, Rice, UTEP, and others again this year. As the defending champions on the men's side, the target is on us. This course should be flat and fast, so we'll be racing to win. However, I expect a strong race from our women's team as well. As long as the women get their training done this summer, we should see a huge improvement and they should contend for a conference title."

Following the conference meet, the Blue Raiders will head to Tallahassee, FL. for the 2018 NCAA South Regional on Nov. 9.

"This regional will be a business trip for us," said Vroman. "We expect to go down there and simply take care of business. Our men are the defending champions again, and teams like Alabama, Ole Miss, and Florida State will be looking take the region crown from us."

The top two teams at the regional meet will each receive an automatic bid for the NCAA National Championships, set for Nov. 17 in Madison, WI. It marks the first time since 1978 that Wisconsin will host the national cross country meet.

"At the national meet, you have to be prepared for whatever is thrown at you," stated Vroman. "Our runners will be competing against different people, different conditions, and a different course. It will be up to our athletes to adapt and show what kind of runners they are."

Though each team returns two top runners from last year, they will both look to newcomers to bolster their title chases. The men return Choge and Chemadi while the women return Kigan and Julia Jelagat. On the men's side, Thobile Mosito and Caden Hercules enter with high expectations. Mosito comes to Middle Tennessee from Cloud County Community College in Kansas where he won a pair of distance track titles in the 8K and 10K at the NJCAA Division 1 championship in the spring. Hercules last ran for Chandler High School in Arizona and finished third at last year's AIA State Cross Country Championship meet. He holds a 5K PR of 15:21 and ran a 16:00 at the state meet. Harper Sigler will also join the team as a transfer from ETSU, but he previously ran at North Oconee High School in Bogart, GA, and finished in top 50 at the GHSA 4A State Championships.

The women's team will look to capitalize on the success of the 2018 track campaign. Joice Jebor, Gladys Kipchumba, and Pamela Kosgei all saw success in distance track competitions this past spring. Jebor ran a 16:49.73 5K at the prestigious Penn Relays and finished 6^th at the C-USA outdoor championship in the same event. Kipchumba marked her personal best at the War Eagle Invitational with a 17:32.93 5K and finished 17^th at the conference meet. Kosgei won the C-USA in the 5K with a 17:08.00 time while placing 4^th in the 10K with a 37:08.06 mark.

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