NORTH MANCHESTER – Brian Cashdollar doesn’t just want his 2012 Manchester University men’s and women’s cross country squads looking good on paper. “We have a lot of experience coming back on both teams which should translate to great leadership,” the 13th-year head coach of the Spartans said. “However, I’ve been around this long enough to know that it’s about what you have done during the offseason in your training regimen … putting the miles in during the summer. That’s what the key will be. “Our coaching staff feels the opportunity is there to repeat both league titles and maybe go beyond,” he added. MU appears the odds-on favorites to extend their Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference title strings to four. The Black and Gold men’s team returns three runners that each gained all-HCAC accolades last fall in senior Karla Madrigal (Elkhart, Ind.) who was fourth, senior Megan Hammel (Bristol, Ind.) who was 10th and senior Meredith Cors (Elkhart, Ind.) who was honorable mention, while the men have junior Mike Stocker (Yorktown, Ind.) who was third, senior Calvin Cook (Plymouth, Ind.) who was seventh, and junior Curtis Nordmann (Bourbon, Ind.) who was eighth along with juniors Jonathon Cafarelli (Lansing, Ill.) and Clayton Harlan (Terre Haute, Ind) each gaining honorable mention all-league status. Cook and Nordmann also earned all-Great Lakes region honors. According to Cashdollar, the key for the women’s team is getting the number four through seven runners set. “We’ll have some battles coming into preseason workouts to see who will take those spots,” he said. “It will be wide open. I think this will make us better, too, due to the competition. “(The women’s team) will go as the seniors do,” he added. “This is a wonderful group which has experienced a lot of success during their collegiate careers. I do feel like we will have a good mix of youth involved, but it all goes back to how hard they worked during the summer.” The men’s team will also have some competition battles during preseason practices, but, just as with the women, depth plays a key factor. “Everything kind of fell our way last fall in regards to the regional and qualifying for the national meet,” Cashdollar said. “We were third in the region and just managed to get in (to nationals). I know the guys, like our staff, feel like we could have done much more at the national meet, so I’m hoping that memory fuels this team a little bit. “With so much experience of success in the upperclassman section, I think this could be a very special season,” he added. “We just need to keep working hard and pushing towards the goals we’ve set.” Beyond a strong senior and junior mix, the Spartans’ head coach feels that his sophomore class and a good freshman group will add that much more to the depth situation. “This team, like the women, is very competitive,” he said. “I had seven men put down on their goal sheet last year that they wanted to be the number one runner in 2012. They all want to do something extra.” Manchester’s schedule opens with its annual home Hokem Karem meet Saturday, Sept. 1, and works through the Bluffton Invitational Sept. 8, Indiana State Collegiate Championships in Terre Haute Sept. 14, the pre-nationals meet in Terre Haute Oct. 6, and the annual Spartan Invitational Oct. 13 before reaching the 2012 HCAC meet Oct. 27 at Bluffton College. “The HCAC will be balanced again,” Cashdollar said. “We can’t take anything for granted. There are very talented teams, individuals, and coaching staffs in the HCAC that will compete for the same goals that we are trying to accomplish. It’s always a battle at the conference meet.”
