Armed with new recruits and experienced runners, the Sacramento State men’s and women’s cross country teams are determined to drastically improve their record from last year.

Last year the Sacramento State women’s cross country team finished in 7th in the Big Sky Conference and 27th in the Western Regionals.

“Being second to last is not something were proud of,” Scott Abbot, head coach for the men’s and women’s cross country team said.

Practicing in the early morning in order to avoid the heat, the players have already started working on a strategy for success.

“The key to this team is training and racing together,” Abbot said. “Basically training as a pack.”

Abbot believes that cross-country is a team sport, and it is necessary to develop a team strategy.

“The top five girls score, and you’re only as good as your fifth runner,” he said.

Caprice Bradshaw, a new recruit and transfer from New Mexico State agrees.

“Were just trying to work together,” Bradshaw said. “The closer we are the better we work as a team.”

Since women’s team normally runs the 5k, which is a little over 3 miles, they have incorporated various physical conditioning drills into their practice routine.

“We alternate hard and easy days,” coach Abbot said. “We tax the aerobic system and the anaerobic system? we do hill training session to increase strength.”

This year the Hornets have fifteen total runners, with seven of them returning from last season. The team is filled with new recruits, four of which are transfers from other schools.

“I want to improve personally, and make an impact,” Jenni Eiremo, a transfer from Iona College said. Eiremo reflects the attitude of many of the team’s recruits who, according to Abbot, are eager to make a difference.

Currently the team has four injuries, although none of these injuries have been considered serious. A coach’s pool has ranked the women’s team as being 6th in the league; Abbot believes that the team has potential to finish higher.

“We could come in third or fourth even,” Abbot said.

Jodie Leal, a senior runner on the team, says the team can easily come into the top three.

“We’re a lot stronger than the year before,” Leal said. “I think we’re going to do very well.”

Abbot says the team is putting an enormous amount of pressure on themselves to succeed in the upcoming season.

“They’ve seen the men finish in the top half,” Abbot said. “And they think if the guys can do this, then we should be able to do this too.”

The women’s team is not the only team anxious to improve. Last year the men’s Sacramento State cross-country team came in 5th in the Big Sky Conference and 15th in the Western Regionals.

“It was pretty good finish, and we were happy on that level,” Abbot said. However, Abbot says that men’s team still is determined to improve and do better than last year.

“The guys have really worked hard over the summer, and put themselves into the best shapes,” Abbot said. “They are really hungry to put a stamp on their collegiate careers.”

Jeff Paneda, a volunteer coach, says the team is ready to compete. “Summer training has made us prepared? a lot more prepared.”

While the team is prepared, Abbot says he hasn’t instructed the team to run as a pack.

“We got a pretty significant gap(running time) in between runners, so I focus more on running with confidence, and not taking on more than you can do.”

The men’s team competes in the 8K and 10K events. Abbot says that because long duration of the race, he focuses on developing the aerobic capacities of the runners.

“In practice they might run up to 14 miles? this is important in order to get the body used to the rigors of distance,” Abbot said.

Recently the team competed in a competition in Reno and came in third place.

“It was a small low key competition, the newcomers were able to get experience,” Abbot said. “Three or four of the guys we ran, ran very well.”

Paneda also believes that the competition was a success, “It showed how much depth we had as a team.”

Cole Yungert, a new recruit and freshman on the team, says the competition helped the team to transition into the phase of competing. “Basically the first race, just shakes off the cobwebs,” said Yungert.

The men’s team has fifteen runners and currently they have no injuries. There are eleven returning players and four new recruits. Many members of the team believe the new recruits will make a huge impact.

“Abbot did a really good job recruiting, he’s changing the program around,” team captain Danny Carlson said.

Cameron Mitchell, a freshman, and recruit from Woodcreek High School, also credits Abbot with doing a good recruiting effort.

“One of the big things that made me come to Sac State was Coach Abbot,” Mitchell said. “I mean he really put Sac State on the map.”

The team’s next competition is at UC Davis, they also have a home meet coming up on September 15th. The team has high expectations and hopes for this season.

“The next couple of days we’re going to do well,” Chris Romo, a new recruit from Woodcreek High School said. “We just have to train well, and stay consistent.”

Both the men and the women’s team has a home meet coming up on Sept. 15. Abbot says the course has been redesigned for spectators.

“Its surprising, but it can be an exciting sport to watch,” Abbot said.

Leal is also encouraging students to come out and support the cross country team. “We don’t have many people coming out to support us,” Leal said. “If more people came, it would become amazing.”

Zaki Syed can be reached at [email protected]