As fall sports begin to get into full swing, both the men’s and women’s cross-country teams are preparing for another great season.

Under the coaching of Trent Mack, last season was the first time in roughly 15 years that both the men and women competed at the Division II Championship meet together, and they are hoping to make a run at the national meet again this year. Mack knows that in order to reach their expectations, they have to take the season one race at a time.

“If you get caught up focusing on the national meet or the end of the season in general too soon, you can get yourself in trouble,” Mack said. “We had a great summer of training overall as a group, a tremendous effort in terms of putting the work in and putting it in correctly. I try to remind them everyday, I try to remind myself everyday, it’s a process to get to the end of the season.”

Senior Colton Johnson thinks that running for Mack is one of the best parts about being on the team.

“Not only is Coach Mack committed to the team, but he is committed to each individual on the team,” Johnson said. “Training through the summer is always encouraging because I now get to come back to coach and I can fully engage myself with him because I know he’ll do the same with me.”

To get prepared for the journey ahead, the men are running anywhere from 70 to 90 miles a week and the women anywhere from 40 to 60. With all of those miles come many nagging injuries, says Mack. The main goal throughout the season is to stay healthy so the team can be at the top of their game when the end of the season rolls around.

The first race of the season is Sept. 8, when the Eagles will be competing at the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational. Next on their list is the Fighting Scots Invitational at Wooster Sept. 15.

These first two races are more for strategy than for speed. Senior Stephanie Stoffel likes Mack’s approach to the schedule.

“Coach Mack sets up our schedule so that it will get progressively more difficult,” she said. “We start out at Ohio Wesleyan, which is a little bit low key, just to get the freshmen adjusted to racing, but we’ll still get what we need out of it. Then we go to Wooster which is a very hilly meet that will prepare us for regionals, which is also a very hilly course.”

Getting the freshmen adjusted to the racing style of a collegiate environment will be a big part of this season.

There are 12 new freshmen runners: four on the men’s team and eight on the women’s. Both teams are competing in the extremely competitive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The GLIAC is arguably the most competitive conference in the nation for the women and the second most competitive for the men.

With this plan, everyone will be prepared for the All-Ohio Championships held in Cedarville. Johnson believes it is one of the biggest races the team competes in. At this race, all divisions run together and almost every Ohio team competes.

“Everyone will be adjusted, and that is where we have the most competition and it will be a test to see where we’re really at,” Johnson said.

Mack leads his team with the motto, “If you want to be successful, you have to surround yourself with successful people.”

After last season’s success and the drive for success this year, the Eagles are likely to make another run at the NCAA championships at the end of the season.