Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: Growing into the next year
5/26/2024 3:11:00 PM | General
The 2023-24 saw many MTSU programs continue to reach great heights, but many more strive for even better in the years to come
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — As I've walked into work these past few weeks, past the location for the new loading dock in the Murphy Center and the new broadcast control room, making plans to park elsewhere this summer as construction is due to start on a new video board behind the endzone, I'm thankful that MTSU Athletics is growing as we enter the summer of 2024.
As I sit in the Floyd Stadium press box writing my third end of the year column at MSTU, glancing over at the frame of the new Student-Athlete Performance Center that has new metal welded onto it every day, I'm encouraged to see that growth happen before my very eyes.
Reflecting on the year that was in Blue Raider athletics, however, I'm struck by how much of what I'll remember about this year comes from the programs that have already grown the most in this department. When it comes to the three programs that won five Conference USA titles at MTSU this year — Men's Tennis, Women's Basketball (who took home both the regular season and tournament trophies) and Cross Country (who swept both the Men's and Women's titles) — it's dangerous to think those titles come easily, just because each program has established such a standard where a CUSA title is the expectation, year-in and year-out.
The year 2024 might be Jimmy Borendame's most impressive coaching job yet. After graduating the core three of Stijn Slump, Francisco Rocha and Pavel Motl that were on each of the four previous CUSA title times, the Blue Raiders opened their new outdoor facility by blending together a large class of transfers (including Leo Raquin, Demis Taramonlis and Javier Cueto Ramos) with a young core of sophomores (Marcel Kamrowski, Ondrej Horak and Shu Matushoka) to again win the CUSA title, the program's fifth in row, making the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year. Identifying such a wide breadth of talent and then finding the right combination in the lineup is no easy task, but the Blue Raiders made it look effortless despite those challenges.
On the hardwood, Rick Insell's team returned a lot from their 2022-23 title winning team, but also had holes to fill from losing a WNBA draft pick in Kseniya Malashka and a lockdown defender in Alexis Whittington. But with the core of high-impact transfers (Savannah Wheeler), international bigs (Anastasiia Boldyreva) and in-state talent (Jalynn Gregory, Courtney Whitson and Ta'Mia Scott) in the lineup, the Blue Raiders never dropped a game in Conference USA play. Winning itself is hard, but perfection takes a whole other level of focus and preparation. And women's basketball showed even more growth in postseason, becoming the sole lower-seeded team to win in the first round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament after knocking out Louisville this spring.
On the cross country course, the winning formula for Keith Vroman's teams also appears simple on the surface. Have fast veterans that can run in a pack near the front (hello Purity Sanga and Faith Nyathi, as well as Habtamu Geta, Vincent Yegon and Hillary Kimaiyo) and pair them with young runners than can learn from their racecraft (hello Elanor Towe and Brian Kiptoo). Again, however, that's far easier said than done, particularly in a sport where your fifth-fastest runner is, in many ways, more important than your fastest. A return to the top of the podium for both teams, the third time MTSU has swept in the past five years, is no simple task. Just ask Purity Sanga, who will be the final Blue Raider competing this year after qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships through her time at the Lexington Regional this past weekend.
What do all these programs have in common? There are the usual suspects in any championship team, from high work ethic to strong talent to smart coaching, of course. But there's a foundation with each program as well, a tradition of success shown in multiple decades and by multiple coaches across that timeline. It's the kind of foundation that takes time to build and one that must be nurtured carefully once it's laid in place.
That foundation is being laid now, department wide, in tangible ways, with a Build Blue project well underway and entering new phases soon. It's one that's been laid, program wide, in more abstract ways, such as the work the football team under a new staff has undertaken in the temporary weight room, or the recruits from high schools, from junior colleges and from other NCAA schools that will compete for the Blue Raiders across the department next fall.
Heading into 2024-25, there's opportunities for so many Blue Raiders to grow as we build here in Murfreesboro, to take us to places we don't yet know that we can reach. I'm encouraged by so many of you that have spent your time, your resources and your talents to make what we do here at Middle Tennessee possible. Thanks again for reading. We have much planned for this summer to keep you connected, even with my column and notebook entering its more sporadic summer publishing schedule, so stay tuned! And Go Blue!
