Delmott returns to lead ESU at MIAA race
By C.J. Moore
Originally published 09:01 p.m., October 24, 2008
Updated 09:01 p.m., October 24, 2008
Uncertainty surrounds the Emporia State cross country team as the Hornets travel to Warrensburg, Mo. on Saturday for the MIAA Championships.
Skyler Delmott, the top runner for the ESU men, has not raced — by design — in three weeks. Coach Dave Harris said his men could finish anywhere from first to seventh. And for the ESU women, top runner Katie Mona is just a freshman and Mona has no idea how she should do in this race, only the second 6K of her life.
“I don’t really know what time I think I should be getting,” Mona said. “For me, I personally want to make sure I get in the top 10. That’s my goal for myself. I’m not too sure if that’s too easy or too hard; I don’t really know what it’s going to be like.”
That’s how it’s kind of been all season for Mona, but it hasn’t stopped her from running to a second-place finish earlier this year at Central Missouri’s Mule Run and winning Emporia State’s home meet.
Harris said he’s going to tell Mona to race for second because he does not believe anyone will be able to run with Missouri Southern’s Kimi Shank, who finished second behind ESU’s Jonel Rossbach at the MIAA Championships.
“I told my assistant last night, I’m going to give Katie a race plan, but I’m going to give it to her when she’s ready to go to the race,” Harris said. “It could be Friday night. It could be on the van on the way down. ... She really doesn’t have any idea and I really feel that I’m going to have to tell her what she can do.”
For the ESU men, Harris feels they can win this meet. Last year the Hornets finished fourth, led by Delmott’s seventh-place finish. Delmott sat out Emporia State’s last race on Oct. 11 in Edwardsville, Ill., so he could prepare for the end of the season with the goal to qualify for the national meet this season.
“So what we’ve gotten is three weeks without racing and I wouldn’t do it all the time and I wouldn’t do it with every runner, but I think with him it is going to pay off,” Harris said.
Senior Marcus Summers also asked to miss the team’s last meet because he had been sick leading up to the race and he thought it would be better to train through the race instead of competing and not faring as well as he would have if he was healthy. Summers was the Hornets second-best runner in the team’s first three meets this season and he could be a key to the Hornets success on Saturday.
For the ESU men to win, Harris said they need to have a runner finish in the top five, another in the top 10, another in the top 15 and all of their runners in the top 20.
Senior Michael Stephens said the men have been working on running together. Stephens could also be a key to the Hornets success. He will be running in his final MIAA meet because he has used up his eligibility in track. Stephens best finish at the MIAA Championships came his freshman year when he finished 24th and his goal on Saturday is to finish in the top 20.
“Conference is always a big meet and it’s important to me,” Stephens said. “Really, it sums up everything that I’ve done considering it’s my last MIAA competition. I hope to give my best.”
The ESU women finished in last place last year and Harris’ goal for them is to move up. They have finished ahead of Nebraska-Omaha and Northwest Missouri this season and hope to do so again on Saturday.