Baylor cross country preview: Bears’ process revolves around … – Waco Tribune-Herald

Sometimes when its hot, when the road is long and the hills are high and the path is uneven, all a runner can do is just keep going. Its all about making progress.

As the 2023 season gets rolling, thats the mindset the Baylor cross country team is carrying.

I believe both of our finishes at conference and at regionals were higher than the year before, said Hayden Gold, a junior for the BU women That was really encouraging to see how our team was progressing. Honestly, we do have a couple more competitors coming into our conference this year, so itll be interesting to see how they match up against the Big 12, the existing Big 12 teams.

Indeed, the Bears have made incremental steps of forward progress as they go into their third season under head coach David Barnett. In the closing meet of the 2022 season at the NCAA South Central Regionals, the Baylor men charged to a seventh-place finish in that fierce field, the programs best regional showing since placing fifth in 2016. The BU women sprung forward to an eighth-place regional finish, the Bears best since 2017, when they were third.

Now its time to pick up the pace again.

In year three, you want to just keep making progress conference-level progress; regional progress; hopefully have some people go to nationals, Barnett said. Last year, we had a couple of people that were all-region for the first time. We just want to keep making progress. And after the first meet or two, youll have a better idea specifically what people are capable of.

Three BU runners reached that all-region standard last season, two on the mens side in Ryan Day and Drew Snyder and one for the women in Ellie Hodge. Only Snyder among that trio has not exhausted his eligibility. But a ravenous group of freshmen has joined the program hungry to prove themselves, freshman 15 be damned.

They all have a sense of urgency, Barnett said. They know that their best opportunities are going to be early in the season. And if they want to have more, they have to make the most of these. Theyre all testing the waters with the upperclassmen and seeing where they are. And Ive been really pleased with their efforts so far.

For the BU women, veterans like Gold, seniors Lily Williams and Anna Garner, and juniors Cate Urbani and Jordan Ledington will act as the trail blazers. But they should be pushed by a five-member freshman group, headlined by San Antonio Reagans Kira Dieterich, who finished second at the Class 6A state meet two seasons ago, and Live Oaks Kat Helmer, who twice led the Lady Falcons to TAPPS team state titles.

Theyre very hungry, Gold said of the freshmen. Theyre very driven to succeed, so Im looking forward to getting to know them a little bit more, competing against them in practice and having them on the line with me in races.

Snyder, a junior from Lincoln, Neb., returns to forge the path for the BU men after striding to a 24th-place at last years regional meet. Hell share leadership duties with graduate senior Ryan Hodge, who is coming off a solid track season in the spring in which he was the silver medalist in the 10,000 at the Texas Relays and charged to an all-conference showing in that race at the Big 12 meet.

I think we're really excited, Hodge said. We have younger group coming in, kind of lost a lot of older guys and I'm kind of one of the few older guys left on the team. So, it's fun to kind of step into more of already was in a leadership role, but it feels like even maybe more so this year of just trying to lead by example. And younger guys are also hungry and really invested, and they came in in good shape and their workouts have been really good. So, it's been exciting to see.

Four freshmen will join the Bear ranks for the mens team: Kanalu Wong of San Antonio Reagan, Aiden Ramshaw of Katy Tompkins, Straton Miller of The Woodlands and Nolan Keenan of San Antonio Alamo Heights. Hodge and Barnett both stated that they think several of the freshmen will be able to contribute right away. But as someone who has stood in their running flats before, Hodge wasnt about to put too much pressure on them.

Freshman year, at the end of the day, you just want to stay healthy, and that's really all you want to do the first semester, Hodge said. You have so many changes going on with coming to school, moving away from your parents and just getting adjusted to the Division I cross country level, which is just different from high school. So, I think that's what Connor Laktastic (from Baylors 2020 squad), he was one of the old runners on my team a year older than me, graduated a few years ago, but he always would tell the freshmen just be like all you want to stay healthy. And the more I've gone through it, the more I'm like that's exactly what you want to do.

So, if you can come away without an injury and have a solid block of training in the fall leading you into a good track season, then I think that's the best freshman year you could ask for.

Baylors opening meet arrives Friday with the UIW Twilight Meet, hosted by Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Itll be something of a soft opening, as the women will run a 4K and the men a 6K, shorter distances than a typical meet. Barnett called it a rust-buster, a chance to start determining the pecking order for future, more competitive meets.

The meet also offers up a different schedule than most cross country outings, with an 8:50 p.m. start time, hence the twilight in the name. While Gold joked that the meet would begin after her bedtime, the runners were mostly looking forward to the opportunity to potentially compete in cooler temperatures and with more fans in attendance.

All in all, theyre looking to put their best foot forward, and make steady progress not just Friday but throughout the 2023 campaign.

For now, its more process-oriented goals, Barnett said. Year two was better than year one for me. Year three, I think, will be better. I think everyones just kind of trending in the right direction. Bottom line is you just want to be more competitive than you were the year before.

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Baylor cross country preview: Bears' process revolves around ... - Waco Tribune-Herald