TigerSportsZone
Home

Football

Volleyball

Cross Country

Tennis

Golf

Men's Basketball

Women's Basketball

Baseball

Softball

Wrestling

Track & Field

Tiger Debs

Cheer Squad

Facilities

Other Info

Can't get to the game? Don't worry, we've got ya covered.
Click here for the live broadcast.

FHSU to host XC meet

10/9/2008

By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

In its last meet, the Fort Hays State University men's and women's cross country teams swept first place at the Oklahoma Baptist Invitational, the first time in the four-year Jason McCullough era both squads had won the same competition in a major meet.

This Saturday, the Tiger squads have a chance to replicate the feat in front of their home fans on the Fort Hays course in the annual FHSU Open. The women will start at 9:20 a.m. with the men to follow at 10.

"It doesn't get any better than that," senior Aaron Yoder said. "That is just really exciting. I don't see reason why we couldn't sweep it. I have been telling my teammates all week to believe and stay with the pack."

"If we get out and start pushing early, it should be no contest," he said. "It is going to be tough competition, but there is no reason why we can't."

The race is the last tuneup before the MIAA meet Oct. 25 in Warrensburg, Mo.

The squads are each contenders for the conference championship and could become the first Tiger team in any sport to win an MIAA title.

"I think it would definitely be a great step towards going into conference, because we are getting so used to winning," Yoder said. "We want to keep that alive. In the past, we were in the mix of things, but we weren't really winning meets."

The competition will include several Div. II, NAIA, Div. I and junior college teams from multiple states. McCullough also changed the course slightly and took out more of the sharp turns.

"There are more straightaways, so it is should be a pretty fast course," he said. "When you run faster, it builds a lot of confidence."

Both squads have run well all year - and have better results than several teams ranked in the top 25 nationally.

"It's almost comical looking at the rankings," McCullough said. "I open them up every week and I almost laugh at the way they have us ranked. You can tell a lot, not based on times, but based on common competition."

The teams each took third at the Texas Tech Open, a meet that included multiple Div. I schools, before the victories at Oklahoma Baptist.

Yoder, who redshirted last year because of a knee injury, won the individual race at Oklahoma Baptist and earned MIAA Runner of the Week honors.

"In the past, he has maybe worked too hard and maybe put out a little too much energy during practice and had nothing left for the meets," McCullough said. "Kind of got stale towards the end of the season. This year he has just been smart, just been listening to his body better, running the proper paces."

Yoder has been joined at the top by his twin brother, Dan, seniors Elias Diaz, and Jay Lindal and sophomore Cole Ginther. McCullough would like to see stronger pack running Saturday, though.

On the women's side, senior Nikki Knowles, junior Ali Mishler and senior Jackie Jamison have been the top runners. They finished 16-17-19 at Texas Tech and 2-5-6 at Okla. Baptist, respectively. Senior Ashlee Orr (foot) , all-conference last season, will not run.

"Everyone has a different style of running, so we both kind of work off of each other," Knowles said. "Everybody has stepped up. ... "I have tried to work more on my middle mile. I usually slow down quite a bit and so a lot of the girls on the team have focused on working through the second mile."

---

---

---

---