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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – After capturing its fourth consecutive Mid-American Conference championship last season, the Eastern Michigan University men's cross country team will go for number five on Saturday, Oct. 31, when the Eagles head to Athens, Ohio for the 2009 MAC Cross Country Championship.
Last season, the Eagles captured their 14th MAC title since 1972 – the most among any league institution in that time frame. Head coach John Goodridge was named the MAC Coach of the Year, an honor bestowed upon the veteran coach five times since his arrival in Ypsilanti nine seasons ago.
Repeating as champion for the fifth year in a row will be a challenge for the young EMU squad, as the team will be without five senior harriers from last year's championship group, including two individual MAC champions in Josh Karanja (2008) and Josh Perrin (2007).
If the Eagles began the season without a clear-cut runner to take over the number one spot, senior captain Curtis Vollmar (Grand Blanc, Mich.-Grand Blanc) addressed that issue immediately with the team's first race of the season, where he ran the fastest time in EMU cross country history to win the Detroit Titan Invitational individual title with a time of 19:54. Vollmar, a two-time MAC Runner of the Week selection this season, has been the first Eagle harrier to cross the finish line in every race he's competed in this season, finishing in the top five at every competition. At the MAC Championship last season, Vollmar placed sixth overall en route to earning first-team All-MAC honors for the first time.
Running in the second and third spots behind Vollmar this season has been redshirt freshman James Hughes (Manchester, Mich.-Manchester) and a combination of senior captain R.P. White (Hillsdale, Mich.-Hillsdale) and junior Matt Hammersmith (Wolcottville, Mich.-Prairie Heights).
Hughes began the season with a fifth place finish at the four mile Detroit Titan Invitational, finishing with a time of 20:38. At the Spartan Invitational, Sept. 18, Hughes took 12th overall in the 218 person field, finishing with a time of 25:22. Hughes recorded his second top 10 finish of the season at the Michigan Intercollegiate, Oct. 9, where he placed eighth overall with a time of 25:31. This year's MAC Championship will be Hughes' first time competing for the Eagles in the conference meet.
At the Notre Dame Invitational, Oct. 2, White had a solid performance when he placed 10th overall with a time of 25:12, finishing just one second out of the eighth and ninth place finishers. White recorded another top 10 finish at the Michigan Intercollegiate when he edged out several runners to take 10th place again with a time of 25:44. White finished 29th at the MAC Championship last year with a time of 25:46.1.
Hammersmith has been steady and consistent in every race so far this season, finishing in the top 21 in every race to help close the gap for the Eagles. After a 21st place finish at the Spartan Invitational, Hammersmith followed it up with a 12th place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational, finishing just five seconds out of a top 10 finish with a time of 25:17. In his last competition, Hammersmith place 13th at the Michigan Intercollegiate with a time of 25:48. Last year at the MAC Championship, Hammersmith finished with a time of 27:05.9, good for 61st place.
The 8,000-meter men's event is slated to begin at 11 a.m. The women's 6,000-meter event will begin at noon with the awards ceremony to follow 30 minutes after the women's race.
