By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – After posting one of the best seasons in program history, the University of Tennessee at Martin cross country teams not only open a new season later this week but look to recalibrate its roster towards success.
While the 2020 campaign looked different in a variety of forms, UT Martin saw its program take another step forward. The Skyhawk men’s team ranked amongst the top programs in the south for nearly the entire abbreviated season before equaling its best team performance with a fourth-place finish at the OVC Championship. Meanwhile on the women’s side, the Skyhawks garnered valuable race experience for a young squad which will prove beneficial for years to come.
“This, undoubtedly, is the beginning of a new chapter for UTM Cross Country,” head coach Kevin Mangan said. “We knew going into this season that it would be different. The difference has felt profound, yet also, unremarkable. From a team culture perspective, it’s almost as if we’re becoming what we’ve always wanted to be, which is also what we always have been for the past four or five years. Maybe that doesn’t make sense to anyone outside our team, but we’ve been talking a lot over the past handful of months about the nature of contrast and it’s utility, necessity for personal and corporate growth and adaptation.”
“Thanks to the dedicated and high-quality people that have graduated and are still here we have been able to add fast people who are more importantly, the right people. The right people are what we really needed to bolster our always talented, but small women’s team and to reload from the OG men who just graduated. Add that to a solid core of returners who have knowledge, desire and capability and we’re more excited about the present and future of this team than ever.”
The men’s team enter the season ranked 13th in the USTFCCCA Preseason South Region rankings. While the program graduated several of the team’s top performers from last year’s squad, the cupboard is far from bare. The senior trio of Luke McNair, Alex Schell and Will Oglesby look to anchor a men’s team with their experience and development while the next crop of scorers are rising to the challenge.
Along with McNair, Schell and Oglesby, the Skyhawks feature nine returners on the roster including Brent Borden, Andre Brown, Cole Davis, Hawken Foote, Victor Kemboi, Austin Knight, Joe Patterson, George Payne and Chance Rone. The team also welcomes four newcomers in Will Cahill, Hudson Hall, Cole Jackson and Sam Shuman.
“We obviously graduated a lot of top guys this spring, but I think we’re as talented and have as much desire as ever. Luke, Alex and Oglesby are steady hands who have lots of experience and have improved a lot in the past twelve months. They and the other returners have done a great job of helping our freshmen have a seamless transition to college life, running and the move up to 8k and 10k. The men are like the women in that I expect our finishing order at every meet to change, it’ll be a pack effort. The smart, consistent work and smart, tough racing our men’s team has engrained in themselves will carry us forward to a fun, successful season.”
The women’s team returns its consistent top-two performers from last season in sophomores Erica Fisher and Taylor Roy while also welcoming back the 2019 OVC Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year Alexis Grandys for her senior campaign after missing last year with an injury. Fisher led the Skyhawks in the first three meets last season while Roy paced the team with a 15th place finish at the OVC Championship.
The Skyhawks also return Annie Amundsen, Maggie Medley, Sam Moreno, Jill Plotner, Megan Roth and Breanna Roy. The squad is rounded out by the addition of seven newcomers including Lilia Alvarez, Rita Eimer, Victoria Holliday, Blayne Lachance, Kaitlyn Loyet, Scarlett Nail and Lydia Tankersley.
“Erica and Taylor will lead a strong and determined young group of women. Our women’s team is quite a bit deeper than we’ve ever been. It’s going to be difficult to say who will finish where at any given meet this fall, in that we’ll have a very strong pack beyond seven runners that will be battling with and for each other in every meet. I expect that cooperative competitiveness to really help them maximize their performances as the season goes along and they all seek to help the team and be in the top ten and top seven going to the conference and regional meets. The newcomers have done a great job of the process and our returners are all a year older but much more than a year wiser than August 2020. The whole team is setting themselves up for a great outcome in October and November, it’ll be a fun season.”
“How great of an outcome will our women have in October and November? How successful will our men be this season? I have some thoughts, I’m sure our runners do as well. For now, we’re focused on enjoying the process of finding out how good we can be this season and beyond. Friday will be a fun first step in the journey.”
UT Martin will compete in four meets before the OVC Championship. The Skyhawks will get the season underway when hosting the Soybean Invitational on Friday, Sept. 3 before traveling to Memphis for the Rhodes Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 18. Following a two-week break, the squads will head north to the Live in the Lou Classic on Saturday, Oct. 2 before closing out the pre-conference schedule on Friday, Oct. 15 at the Bradley ‘Pink’ Classic.
The entire season’s preparations lead up to the OVC Championship to be contested in Nashville on Saturday, Oct. 30. Following that, the Skyhawks will put their team to the test at the NCAA South Region Championship on Friday, Nov. 12.
Picture courtest of UT Martin Sports Information