The women’s cross country team finished sixth in the WIAC championship, and was 11th out of 38 teams at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional last season.
The team hopes to build upon that success this season with a strong core of returning runners.
Carrying the load for the Warhawks this fall will be junior Madeline Roznos and sophomores Alyssa Duncan, Megan Gang, and Janna Wise.
Roznos finished 11th at the conference meet last season, the best conference finish by a Warhawk since 2005.
She also finished 27th out of 259 runners at regionals.
“I trained more this summer than I ever have so I feel pretty confident going into this season,” Roznos said. “I’m looking to make first team all-conference and to qualify for nationals, and I’m also really close to breaking the fastest time so I hope I get that this year.”
Seventeen of the `Hawks 28 runners are underclassmen, but the team is confident it can repeat the success of last season.
“I doubt our age will hold us back,” Gang said. “We have some good incoming runners and other people have stepped up to fill the gaps, so I think we will have a good season.”
Duncan finished second for the `Hawks at last season’s WIAC championship. She also posted her best time of the season in the Midwest regional, 23:17.1, which earned her 69th place.
“We have a pretty young team this year, and we lost some seniors from last season,” Duncan said. “Each year is new so you never know what to expect, so we just have to keep working hard and improve.”
The `Hawks are confident they can finish the season with similar results and have some experienced runners to lean on, but will have to survive the gauntlet that is the WIAC.
“We have a very tough conference and will not have some of our returning runners for various reasons,” Head Coach Jeff Miller said. “All we can do is work with what we’re given, focus on what we can control and keep improving all season long, and we will have success.”