Idaho women head to Las Cruces to defend WAC cross country title

MOSCOW – The University of Idaho men’s and women’s cross country teams departed Thursday morning to Las Cruces, N.M., for the Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships, where the women will go for their third title in four years and the men will try to improve on last year’s runner-up finish.

The 2008 Vandal squad features plenty of new faces, but the goal remains the same.

“Our goal from the very start of the year was to win a conference championship and that’s still our goal,” Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said. “They’re really excited and really positive about doing that on Saturday.”

Last year’s women’s squad placed four runners in the top 10 at the meet and was led by a strong core of seniors in Dee Olson, Mandy Macalister and Breanna Chipney. This time around, it will be a crew of youngsters with their eyes on the prize.

Led by lone senior Allix Lee-Painter, the Vandal women have two juniors, Melissa McFaddan and Maike Holthuijzen, one sophomore, Erica Digby, and freshmen Teegan Schoch, Julia Veseth, Anna Kalbrener, Lauren Schaffer and Jamie Christiansen.

Phipps said he’s very comfortable running so many freshmen and that he likes the team’s mix of veterans and newcomers.

“We’ve got the leadership of Allix Lee-Painter and also Melissa McFaddan and Erica Digby having been there last year,” Phipps said. “The new people have blended in very well. They’re very confident and they don’t seem fazed by a whole lot, so I’m excited about the combination of the two.”

It’s all about fresh faces on the men’s side, as well. True freshmen Markus Geiger, Alex Brekke, Luke Tonnemaker and James Clark will team up with seniors Matt Racine and Jeremiah Johnston and juniors Kevin Merkling and Steve Potratz for the men’s race.

The men, like the women, will be without three of its top five finishers from a year ago, but that doesn’t concern Phipps.

“We are relying on a whole different group of guys than we have in the past, even with some of the returners who have put themselves in positions where we’re relying on them more than we have in the past,” Phipps said. “It’s just a matter of everyone putting a good race together and we might be able to surprise some teams at the conference meet.”

In addition to Idaho’s strong team performances in its first three seasons in the WAC, the Vandals have also had many individuals step up. Olson won the women’s title in 2005, followed by Rhea Richter in 2006, while Mandy Macalister took third and Diego Moreno took second last year. This year, Lee-Painter, a three-time WAC Female Athlete of the Week this year, should be a strong contender for the women’s title, as should Jeremiah Johnston, who has been Idaho’s top finisher in all but one race this year.

“I’ve got to think that Allix has got as good an opportunity to win as anyone else in the conference,” Phipps said. “This will be the first race where we’ve actually backed off on her training a little bit, so she’s going to come in pretty fresh.

“Jeremiah has had a fantastic year. We’ve really kind of figured out the kind of training that’s worked well to keep him injury-free and fresh for the races and if he continues to run the way he’s been running, he’s a guy who can be in that top three.”

The meet will start on Saturday morning with the women’s 5k race at 9 a.m. (Pacific), while the men’s 8k race will start at 9:45 a.m., with the awards ceremony to follow. The race is being held at the New Mexico State Golf Course.

“It’s been a great year and it’s a great group of kids,” Phipps said. “They’ve been working really hard and they’ve stuck to the game plan and I’m just really excited to see what they can do on Saturday morning.”