Wheeling, W. Va. - During the 2022 season, the Wheeling University Men's Cross Country team used the term "gritty" to describe their team. As they enter the 2023 season, that "gritty" team is another year older and ready to continue their progression in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) standings. With a roster of five veteran returners entering the year, the Cardinals are looking to continue their growth from 2023 and continue to build their bond as a team both on and off the course.
In 2022, the Cardinals were a young team overall, with every runner in either their sophomore year or younger. As they progressed through the season, each of the Cardinals runners saw improvement on the course and grew individually. All five runners dropped their time by a minute or less from the first race to the last and headed into the MEC Championships with confidence on their side. Still with a young team, the Cardinals had many of their runners who were experiencing their first conference championship event. As a team, the Cardinals finished ninth in the field, but saw growth from their younger players. Hunter Tomich was the Cardinal's top finisher at the event, placing 49th with a time of 29:51.0, marking his best individual placing of the year.
Leading the way once again in 2023 will be Junior Izaiha Browning, who did not finish the conference championships last season, but was the Cardinal's leading runner in all but one race. Browning saw one of the team's single best improvements during the year, going from running a 28:01.2 at the Kutztown DII/DIII challenge, to 26:11.0 the very next time out at the Lewis Crossover. It was a PR effort in that second race for Browning as he set himself up in the upper echelon of the conference. As he enters the 2023 season, Browning wants to continue taking his game to the next level and strive for the first All-MEC award for a Wheeling Cross Country runner since Devin Rich took home the honor during the 2018 season.
Joining Browning will be the Cardinal's second top runner from the 2022 season in sophomore Hunter Tomich. The only race in which Browning didn't lead the way was led by Tomich, who finished 49th overall at his first career MEC Cross Country Championship. Throughout the season, Tomich showed a lot of growth on the track, dropping his time by more than a minute from his first race to when he set his 8K PR at the Go Fast River Run, where he finished at 28:33.4. The other two returners are junior CJ Anderson and senior Tyler Crook. Anderson has been a member of the Cross Country team since his freshman year and, after battling an injury last season, he is fully healthy and looking to get back under the 29 minute make and reach his 8K PR. Crook came to the team as a brand new Cross Country runner and has taken in the experience and looks to continue to grow in 2023.
As the Cardinals get set to kick-off this 2023 season, they will see three different races leading up to the MEC Championship as they use each course to prepare. In the first meeting against Bethany, the team will see a lot of their conference opponents and get a chance to gauge themselves against their conference competition. They then head to Lock Haven University two weeks later as they get their first look at the course they will run in the Regional Championship. Slippery Rock will round out the regular season in a big regional test before heading into the Championships. On the guy's side, Head Coach Patrick Stanton is just looking for growth from his guys from where they were last season.
"We just want to be better than last year," said Stanton. "Looking at this group we returned pretty much everyone from last year so it's about those guys being better than they were and I think by in large that will be the case. Everyone has greatly improved from last year in their own way and I am super excited about the guys this year."
The Wheeling University Men's Cross Country team kicks off the season on Saturday, September 9th, when they head to the Bethany Invitational at 10:30 AM.
