Season Preview
cross country teams look to
trumpet their successes in 2010

While attending the Danish Institute for Study Abroad last fall, Hannah Mitchell often ran in a park down the road from where she was staying. Inside the park was a zoo, and Mitchell would see elephants as she jogged by.

Now back at Muhlenberg for her senior year, Mitchell

Mitchell earned letters with the cross country team in both 2007 and 2008 and was a member of two record-setting relay teams in track.

isn't likely to see elephants on her training runs - just packs of Mules. Mitchell and her teammates on the Muhlenberg cross country teams are hard at work in preparation for Friday's season-opening run at the Lehigh Valley Championships.

The two teams have very different makeups. Whereas the women feature many new faces, the men return all but two of their top 12 from last year, when they came in fifth at the Centennial Conference Championships and 15th at the NCAA Mideast Regional.

"We're feeling that if we're going to do something, this is going to be the year," said senior co-captain Matt Lauletti. "We have most of our core guys back and the most talent in our freshman class that I've seen since I've been here. It's a good dynamic."

Heading the returnees is the other senior captain, Bobby Torphy, who was Muhlenberg's top finisher in every race a year ago. He placed 22nd at the Mideast Regional, earning a bid to the NCAA Championships.

Five of the other six runners who represented the Mules at the

Of Muhlenberg being picked in the CC preseason poll, Lauletti said, "No way we should be that low!"

regional meet - seniors Ryan Wilson and Adam Kingsbury, juniors William Lowrey and Andrew Henry and sophomore Nate Crossette - are also back, as is Lauletti, who enjoyed a successful track season that saw him break the school record in the 3,000 meters.

Of course, all that talent needs to be in place for the CC and regional meets at the end of the year, so the team has been focusing on injury prevention during the preseason.

"Running 90 miles a week, something is going to break down," said Lauletti. "We've been training aggressively but still keeping some level of being conservative - basically, getting to the edge but not jumping over."

An injury to their top runner was a factor in the women slipping to 25th in the region last year after 12 straight years in the top 20. The Mules will look to rebound with a young but eager team.

"It's a completely different team - half the team is new or wasn't here last year, like me," said Mitchell. "That's a really positive thing, the freshness that comes with that. It will be to our advantage. We have lots of enthusiastic freshmen who worked hard all summer."

The top returning runner is junior co-captain Melissa Ugelow, who was Muhlenberg's top finisher at the Mideast Regional, and Kim Bier, the only fourth-year senior on the team, has had a strong preseason. Junior Ashley Greenberg and sophomores Erica Bash and Samantha Mayden are back for their second year with the program, joined by five freshmen.

"We don't really have a star, so we want to keep everyone close together and eliminate the gaps by running in packs," said Mitchell.

The Mules will put that strategy to the test for the first time in a competitive situation on Friday. "It will expose everyone to the racing environment," Mitchell said of the Lehigh Valley Championships. "So when it counts, we'll be ready."