USU runners look to repeat ’06 success

Making a fitting sequel is tough to do.

People expect the second to be as good as the first, especially when the first was a blockbuster.

They may not be making movies, but Utah State cross country will attempt to produce a fitting sequel to a blockbuster 2006 season that saw the menís and womenís teams capture Western Athletic Conference championships.

But the team doesnít see those expectations, only goals.

ìIím not sure that I have preset expectations, but our goal is weíd like to repeat as the conference champions,î Head Coach Gregg Gensel said. ìThatís easy to say, but it may be hard to do … Everybodyís trying to win, and weíre trying this year to defend our titles. And weíre not just going to say, ÃHere, take the title. Itís your turn.í Theyíre going to have to earn it.î

The Aggies will have a few things on their side as they try to defend their WAC titles.

Home-field advantage. The 2007 WAC Championships will be held in Cache Valley, right in the Aggiesí backyard.

Experience.

Although Utah State lost some important cogs from last year ó Vance and Jennifer Twitchell spring to mind ó they also return four first-team All-WAC selections, all Top-10 finishers at the championships last fall.

For the men, those include senior Ben Kessen and junior Seth Wold. Kessen was the fourth-place finisher at last yearís WAC Championships, while Wold was fifth.

ìOn the menís side, I think weíre the team to beat, but we canít just go in there thinking weíre going to win. Weíve got to run and weíve got to run well,î Gensel said. ì… I would like to think that we have a better team than we had last year, and, as you know, we won the conference championship last year.î

Other important pieces for the Aggie men will be sophomore Jared Glenn and the return of sophomore Steve Strickland, who is coming off a two-year LDS Church mission, Gensel said.

For the women, seniors Stacie (Lifferth) Dorius and Amy Egan return from All-WAC seasons that saw Dorius finish fifth and Egan seventh at the WAC Championships. Junior Caroline Berry is another important holdover for the Aggie women, Gensel said.

Gensel said to also watch for junior Alison Taylor and Kim Quinn ó a freshman out of Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah ó to help out on the lady Aggies.

The Utah State women may be up against some tough competition in their title defense. He said Idaho and Nevada should be tougher in Ã07.

ìThe nice thing about our conference on the womenís side, you can run your best race and be fourth,î Gensel said. ìBut I like that competition, I like that competitiveness.î

Much of the talk about the Aggiesí competition is just speculation at this point. Gensel said he wouldnít have a good idea about other WAC teams until they run their first race, which for most schools will happen this weekend.

USU is no different. The Aggies open their season at 2 p.m. today at the American West Heritage Center. Four menís teams and five womenís teams will test out the WAC Championship course, including WAC competition Idaho, and in-state schools Weber State University, the University of Utah and Utah Valley University.

Gensel said he is looking to use this first race to feel his team out.

ìI just want to know where everybody is at and how they are doing,î he said. ìSo, if we donít win the meet, Iím OK with that. Itís the end of October and in November thatís the most important meets for us.î

The meets Gensel is referencing are the WAC Championships Oct. 27 in Logan and the NCAA Mountain Regionals on Nov. 11 in Ogden, Utah.

ìOur goal when we got into the WAC was to be the team at our school who won the first WAC championship,î Gensel said. ìWe did that with our (menís) cross country team two years ago, and then last year, our womenís team was the first womenís team to win a championship. Iím not going to win every championship, but Iím certainly going to go out on the field trying to do that.î

– da.bake@aggiemail.usu.edu