As calm returns to Starkville Saturday evening, the men’s and women’s cross country teams will be in Memphis with more energy than they know what to do with.
Fortunately for them, they will be able to start their season in the Memphis Twilight Classic.
The women’s team won the event last year with a perfect score of 15. All five top positions belonged to Bulldogs as twilight faded.
Three of the top five Lady Dawg finishers in last year’s race will run tomorrow.
Jennifer McPherson took second, Zita Magloire took fourth and Joy Griffith took fifth. Meggan Hodge is expected to return completely healed from a back injury that ended her track season.
“We will be very strong as a group of five to seven runners,” said women’s head coach Al Schmidt. “Our first four should be able to penetrate the top 10 to 15 places at the SEC Championships. If we can do that then we will be able to be in the top five teams at the SEC.”
Schmidt, in his 17th season at the helm of the Bulldog track and field team, is the longest continuously-tenured head coach at State.
While the veterans know what to expect, freshman Jacqui Aubert said she is nervous and excited about her first collegiate meet.
Aubert said she will try to focus on running.
“My mom’s coming in so I am excited,” Aubert said.
The Crystal Lake, Ill., native said she has adjusted to the heat and humidity and will rely on having songs in her head to propel her through the meet.
“I like having songs in my head to tune out the pain,” she explained.
Aubert said Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” and Usher’s “Yeah” are two of her favorites.
“Training with the team has been awesome,” Aubert said. “The girls keep you going.”
Men’s head coach Steve Dudley thinks his team can overcome its lack of experience.
“We are a very young team with five freshmen, nine sophomores and just one senior. The work ethic of this group makes up for any inexperience,” Dudley said.
Travis McKay, a sophomore from Edmonton, Alberta, said the experience he gained last year will undoubtedly help.
“The first year was pretty hard. I was running in weather that was 20 degrees hotter than I was used to,” McKay said. “The adjustments were killer.”
“Our team goal is to be better than we were last year and continue this tradition until we are one of the top teams in the country,” Dudley added.
MSU reinstated the men’s cross country program last fall and eliminated the men’s indoor program.
“In the mid-90s we had to cut a men’s sport because of gender equity. The SEC has a rule that you have to have two more women’s sports than men’s sports,” Schmidt said. “We originally dropped cross country but we felt like it was affecting the team more than having indoor.”
“Mr. (Larry) Templeton and I felt we needed to add cross country. Really the indoor season is not a great thing for a sprint group to have. It puts a lot of stress on them.”
Schmidt said Templeton did a good job of making the decision and has taken care of the track and field program.
Dudley logged miles as the captain of the cross country team from 1991-95. He led the team in 10 of 14 meets in ’92 and ’93.
Joining the staff is another former Bulldog, Houston Franks, who ran for the Dawgs from 1994-98.
“I’m really excited to be back at MSU,” Franks said. “My heart has always been here. It’s great to be able to come back and coach at your alma mater. I hope I can contribute to this great program, and I’m thankful to be coaching with such great coaches.”
McKay said the teams have been training twice daily since the week before school started.
“With experience, we will be much better,” he said. “It will be nice to run on some of the same courses.”