Missouri Western Cross Country will begin its eighth season of competition on Friday, as the Griffons compete in the Platte River Rumble "Gold" meet at Mahoney State Park near Ashland, Nebraska.
The women's race is set for 6:30 p.m. with the men to follow at 7:15.
The Griffons will compete against MIAA member schools Nebraska-Kearney and Northwest Missouri State, along with Division I members South Dakota, Creighton and Nebraska-Omaha. Peru State and Indian Hills CC will also compete.
Missouri Western boasts strong numbers heading into the 2024 season. Head coach Cody Ingold has 16 runners out on the men's side - seven of whom are seniors.
Kayden Crigger enters his senior year after garnering honorable mention all-MIAA accolades for the second time last fall.
The Griffons also bring in three transfers on the men's side -
Keelan Aitia and
Logan Soedt from Indian Hills CC, and
Pau Valderrama from Division II Tusculum University. Missouri Western will look to build off of last season's success - a season where the men earned a Central Region ranking for the first time. The Griffons were ranked as high as sixth in the region last fall. The Missouri Western men were picked to finish ninth in the MIAA preseason poll.
On the women's side, Missouri Western will be without their top two runners this season, as seniors
Madison Nash and
Abby Kinney will both redshirt.
Claire Hemry and
Lillian Cutler will compete in their senior seasons this fall. Missouri Western comes in fairly young on the women's side with two freshmen and five sophomores.
The Griffon women were picked to finish seventh in the MIAA preseason poll, which is where they finished as a team at the MIAA championships last fall in Columbia, MO.
Missouri Western also added an assistant coach this offseason. Sean Gosewich joins the fold after spending the last two seasons at Tusculum University. Prior to that, Gosewich was the head cross country coach at William Penn University from 2011-2021.
After this weekend, Missouri Western will then compete in the Woody Greeno/Dirksen Cross Country Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday, Sept. 21. The Griffons will then host the Griffon Invite on Saturday, Oct. 5 before the MIAA Championships on Oct. 26.
