2008 Woodie Awards
NMU cross-country hopes to outrun GLIAC
Brice Burge
Issue date: 9/6/07 Section: Sports
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Northern's women's cross country team started off their rebuilding season this week after failing to make the national championship last year for the first time since 2000.
The women's cross country team's first race is Friday Sept. 7 at the Lake Superior State University tournament this is the first race at the college level for many runners.
The Wildcats lost five of their starting seven runners to graduation last year, including Great Lakes All-Region runner Kelly Ahern.
"Losing so many great runners is tough," said head coach Jenny Ryan. "However, the returning upperclassmen are much faster than last year and the incoming freshmen are strong."
NMU had a larger than usual recruiting class, compared to the last four years, with nine freshman runners, making 45 percent of the team freshmen, some of these freshmen should have immediate impact, said Ryan.
Northern was not the only school to have a high percentage of incoming freshmen. Three GLIAC rivals have teams that have a higher concentration of freshmen then NMU's percent Hillsdale with 50 percent, Ashland with 56 percent, and Lake Superior State with 66 percent, according to GLIAC rosters.
Another change being made to the team this year is new head coach Jenny Ryan who moved up from assistant coach following Sten Fjeldheim's decision to step down as head coach to focus more on the nordic skiing team. Fjeldheim will remain with the team as an assistant coach.
During Fjeldheim's career at NMU he led the team to six NCAA D-II National Championship competitions, with a best finish of fourth overall in 2002. Fjeldheim also coached ten All-Americans and has two Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) championships.
This change will open the door for former assistant coach Ryan to take over as head coach after seven years as an assistant.
"I feel very comfortable turning the reins over to Jenny," said Fjeldheim.
But even with the obstacles in the way of the Wildcat Women, the morale is still high.
The women's cross country team's first race is Friday Sept. 7 at the Lake Superior State University tournament this is the first race at the college level for many runners.
The Wildcats lost five of their starting seven runners to graduation last year, including Great Lakes All-Region runner Kelly Ahern.
"Losing so many great runners is tough," said head coach Jenny Ryan. "However, the returning upperclassmen are much faster than last year and the incoming freshmen are strong."
NMU had a larger than usual recruiting class, compared to the last four years, with nine freshman runners, making 45 percent of the team freshmen, some of these freshmen should have immediate impact, said Ryan.
Northern was not the only school to have a high percentage of incoming freshmen. Three GLIAC rivals have teams that have a higher concentration of freshmen then NMU's percent Hillsdale with 50 percent, Ashland with 56 percent, and Lake Superior State with 66 percent, according to GLIAC rosters.
Another change being made to the team this year is new head coach Jenny Ryan who moved up from assistant coach following Sten Fjeldheim's decision to step down as head coach to focus more on the nordic skiing team. Fjeldheim will remain with the team as an assistant coach.
During Fjeldheim's career at NMU he led the team to six NCAA D-II National Championship competitions, with a best finish of fourth overall in 2002. Fjeldheim also coached ten All-Americans and has two Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) championships.
This change will open the door for former assistant coach Ryan to take over as head coach after seven years as an assistant.
"I feel very comfortable turning the reins over to Jenny," said Fjeldheim.
But even with the obstacles in the way of the Wildcat Women, the morale is still high.
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