Wichita State cross country relies on depth

Wichita State isn’t considered one of the favorites in either Missouri Valley Conference cross country segment. Coach Kirk Hunter hopes that is only a temporary condition.

The Shockers will run their lone home meet of the fall on Saturday at the RAFT Golf Course in Augusta. It is the opening meet for Hunter’s experienced runners; he sent a partial team to a warmup meet last weekend. WSU is picked fifth on the women’s side and sixth on the men’s in the MVC.

“Both teams could potentially be the best teams I’ve had here,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’ll do better in conference. The conference is really, really good right now.”

The addition of Loyola, coached by former WSU coach Randy Hasenbank, improved MVC cross country. Several other programs are peaking, including Bradley and Southern Illinois, which is the preseason favorite on both sides. The Shockers will try to compete with depth, as there isn’t an obvious standout runner on either team. The only Shocker woman to finish in the top 10 at the conference race a year ago (Samantha Shukla) is gone. On the men’s side, senior Ryan Hocker finished eighth and junior Brady Johnson placed 13th.

“If you don’t know who your front-runner is, then you have a strong team,” Hunter said. “You’re going to go into every meet knowing six or seven (runners) are vying for that top spot, and therefore you’re going to have strong team finishes.”

Johnson is leading WSU’s practices after a summer in which Hunter said he ran 120-mile weeks. He ran last season’s 8-kilometer MVC race in a time of 24 minutes, 58.5 seconds.

“In practices, right now, they just can’t handle him,” Hunter said.

The addition of sophomore Ugis Jocis should add depth to the men’s team. He transferred to WSU at Christmas break and won the mile run at the MVC Indoor Championships.

“He’s a competitor,” Hunter said. “I have a lot of faith in that guy.”

On the women’s side, seniors Kaityln McLeod and Ebeissa Nyandwi and sophomore Sidney Hirsch are back. Nyandwi finished 13th in the MVC meet with a time of 17:58 in the 5-kilometer race. Hirsch finished 24th (18:26.9) and McLeod 31st (18:38.9).

Golfers in Michigan — WSU’s men’s golf team opens its fall season at the Wolverine Intercollegiate in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday.

WSU’s lineup, led by MVC Golfer of the Year Louis Cohen Boyer, will include sophomore Grant Bennett, the MVC Newcomer of the Year, junior Alec Heinen, redshirt freshman Conrad Walcher and freshman Gage Ihrig. Freshman Jacob Bishop will compete as an individual.

This story was originally published September 5, 2014 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Wichita State cross country relies on depth."