Upcoming Event: Cross Country versus Gans Creek Classic on September 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
8:00 AM
Cross Country
vs Gans Creek Classic
Coach Kepler's Weekly Recap - Week 2
9/11/2006 12:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 11, 2006
If our program is going to continue to grow and move towards higher levels of achievement, we have to compete against outstanding competition along the way. We all knew last week's meet would present a great challenge. BYU and CSU were picked 1-2 in our preseason coaches poll. Idaho State and UVSC are solid, well-coached teams.
I was disappointed in the outcome from a team standpoint. On no uncertain terms, I voice my disappointment to the team. Even though they are very young, they have to understand my expectations of great effort. I think we had some good individual performances, but we also have runners who need to step it up. Freshman Rebecca Mackelprang ran another super race to finish in the top ten. I also thought Lauren Endersen ran better this week. We have to run with more emotion and less fear which is often typical of a young team like ours.
Ultimately, our lack of depth is my biggest concern at the moment. Our No. 3 (Chelsea DiGrazia) was unable to finish this week's race due to a hip flexor strain. She made the right decision to drop out as we certainly have more important meets down the road. Continuing to run would have only lengthened the recovery time. This left us with only five runners to finish and score. I believe Chelsea's injury will be more of a day-to-day issue. However, I will not rush her back into action as it will be more important to have her in Oct. and Nov. Freshman Stephanie Skoreyko, who has not raced yet this season due to a summer injury, is getting very close to being ready. That will help our depth in the coming weeks.
So far, this has been a tremendous group of young women to coach. They challenge each other on a daily basis to get better. They have a great work ethic and the necessary desire to be a great team. They believe wholeheartedly in the direction of this program. However, cross country can be a very unforgiving sport to those who are as inexperienced as we are. With time and more races, this team will learn how to compete as a group and how to push themselves as individuals.
This coming Saturday we compete at Montana State in a three-mile race. It's a beautiful course and we ran fairly well there a year ago after a rough start. So hopefully, we can have another great week of practice and get back on track.
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