It might come as a bit of a surprise, but with all her accomplishments, Emporia State’s runner Jonel Rossbach has never won a cross country Regional.
She’ll get her final chance to do that on Saturday, as the ESU cross country teams compete at the Regional meet in Joplin, Mo.
“I think that’s been her goal all year long is to come back this year and win the thing,” ESU coach Dave Harris said. “I think it’s definitely doable.”
Last year, Rossbach finished third at Regionals, two weeks after taking the MIAA title.
The top five runners in both the men’s and women’s races advance to Nationals in two weeks, which also will be held in Joplin.
Though Harris hasn’t seen all of the runners that will race Saturday, he believes Rossbach should be considered the favorite.
“I think she’ll go out to the front,” Harris said, “and I think she’ll run with anybody that wants to run with her.”
On the men’s side, the Hornets will go in with the goal of sneaking up on a couple of teams and perhaps making their way into Nationals.
The top three teams make it to the National meet. ESU was ranked fifth in the final Regional rankings.
“I think we have an outside shot,” Harris said. “We’ve kind of had a philosophy to dream about going, if the opportunity presents itself where some team that’s probably ahead of us right now falters. It’s been known to happen.”
Abilene Christian comes in as the No. 1 team in the nation and figures to be in the top three at the meet.
ESU also will have to compete with Southwest Baptist, Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State, which all finished in front of ESU at the MIAA meet two weeks ago.
“We need some breaks, and we need all of our guys to run their very best,” Harris said. “Then we have a chance.”
Emporia High graduates Skyler Delmott and Brock Ternes, who have run 1-2 for the Hornets all season, should keep those spots for the Hornets on Saturday.
ESU might be able to make up the most ground with its other runners. Marcus Summers, who had a disappointing finish at MIAAs, could move up to the 3 or 4 spot for ESU, and senior Eric Wellman is improving every week while recovering from a foot injury.