The University of Wisconsin La Crosse Men’s Cross-Country team kicks off their season this weekend at the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota. Hoping to mirror the national competition level, the team will be racing NCAA Division II colleges.

The Griak Invitational is known to be a challenging course and is paired with an 80-degree forecast over the weekend. However, the UWL Men’s Cross-Country coach, Derek Stanley is expecting great things from this year’s team.

When asked about the 2016 season, Stanley noted that they had placed sixth at nationals, third at regionals, and second in conference. Although they had finished top 10 in the country, it did not quite reach their expectations.

“Those accomplishments are usually credentials to be proud of, but as we crossed the line at the end of the national meet, it felt like a bad race”, Stanley expressed. “We didn’t look good, we didn’t feel good and we had a much better race the week before Regionals. It was disheartening.”

However, with each end of a season comes a new beginning. Moving forward, Stanley has implemented a new training approach that he hopes benefits the team’s overall performance and their ability to bounce back after each race.

“Instead of pushing the limit on race pace training, we want to focus more on threshold training” Stanley added. “Threshold training is near race pace, but runners are not burning as much energy. Therefore, the recovery is better and it makes the runner more durable”.

Additionally, since regionals and nationals are only a week apart, the coaching staff has moved a meet six day after the Griak Invitational in an attempt to prepare for the biggest meet of the season.

The future looks bright for the Eagles, as Stanley believes the team has a good chance at winning. With determination and resilience, the UWL Men’s Cross-Country team might take the national title once again.

Senior, Jonah Weisse is ready to claim such title adding, “I am looking forward to the championship season with guys I’ve been training with for 4 years. We’ve put in the work over the years, and now it’s time to see what we can do.

“We enter the season ranked third in the country, but our only goal is to come away with a national championship. I’m looking forward to ending my final season with a bang and, as always, enjoying the journey.”

The Eagles have a home meet October 14 at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Jim Drews Invitational at the Ettrick Golf Club. This will be the second to last meet of the season before the WIAC Championships and the road to nationals November 18.