A healthy mix.
College of Saint Mary Cross Country Coach Derek Fey says his team this season is a combination of veteran runners and newcomers.
The Flames open the 2022 season at the Bronco Stampede in Hastings, Neb., on Saturday.
"The strength of this year's team is that we have a couple runners up front that should be pushing an individual national berth," Fey said. "We also have a couple of freshmen that will crack our Top 5 – so it'll be nice to have both seasoned runners and new runners in the mix."
Key returners for CSM include Chloe Inhelder (JR/Aurora, Colo.) and Jocelyn Farhar (SO/Broomfield, Colo.). Inhelder posted the Flames' top finish at the GPAC Championships last season. She took 21st place individually with a time of 20:04.83.
The Flames finished seventh as a team in the conference meet.
But gone from that squad are Maddie Coufal, Emma Peck and Kelsey Musgjerd – three of CSM's top five runners in that meet.
"Our depth could be an area of concern as we graduated quite a few seniors that had major impacts on our team," Fey said. "We are still shooting for a Top 6 finish and hoping to surprise a team or two in the process."
Fey thinks that's a legitimate possibility with the progress he's seen at practices so far.
"We are starting to develop some team chemistry," he said. "I think it will take the first meet to truly see how well we can work together. But I fully expect this group to come together at the right time and peak at the conference meet in November."
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