The women capped off the 2004 season with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA

Grandjean enters her first season as co-captain of the women’s cross country team. She finished 58th at the Mideast Regional in 2004.

Mideast Regional, their second-best finish ever. This followed the team’s highest finish at the Centennial Conference Championships - fourth - and its first road meet win ever at the McDaniel Invitational.

The 2005 squad is picked to repeat in fourth place according to the CC preseason poll. However, the team is looking even higher than that.

“Our goal is to come in the top three in the Conference and the top eight at regionals,” said Karen Mount, a senior co-captain. “We have very high expectations.”

The Mules feature just two seniors, Mount and co-captain Christy Grandjean, and two juniors, Kim David and Elizabeth Schmitt. So the Mules will have to look for the freshmen and sophomores to step up in order to be competitive.

One of the sophomores, Laura Clinton, made a strong impact as a freshman, finishing 34th in the CC Championships and ninth at the McDaniel Invitational. She shares the team’s enthusiasm.

“We can’t wait to see what we can do, ” said Clinton. “Everyone is really healthy. We feel with a lot of hard work we can pass our prediction of fourth. It’s really exciting coming off such a good season. ”

Clinton is one of three sophomore letterwinners returning, along with Annie DeMuth and Christy Goff. There are currently six freshmen on the team.

“With the new freshmen and the new coaching, we are very excited, ” said Mount.

The “new coaching” Mount refers to is long-time assistant Welles Lobb and Jennifer Reid. Lobb, involved in Mule cross country and track since 1990, enters his first season as head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Reid is set to begin her first season as the assistant coach for the teams.

Lobb’s primary focus as assistant was the men’s cross country team that finished in the top four in the Centennial Conference each of the last five years. In 2004 the Mules were fourth, and the 2005 CC preseason poll places them at third. In addition, Muhlenberg took 10th at the Mideast Regionals - its third top-10 finish in four years.

However, like the women, the men are aiming higher.

“We didn’t meet our expectations last year, ” said junior

Rothwell finished third at the McDaniel Invitational and 23rd at the Conference Championship.

Lex Mercado. “We feel we are very deep with 10 guys who can run in the top seven. We feel we can beat Dickinson and close the gap on Haverford. ”

Haverford, winners of every CC championship since the league was formed in 1993, is the unanimous preseason selection for first with Dickinson in second, just ahead of Muhlenberg.

Mercado, along with senior Alex Hotz and junior Steve Rothwell, placed in the top 10 at the McDaniel Invitation, leading the Mules to first place. Hotz was also the team’s top finisher at the Mideast Regionals, taking 46th, and at the CC Championships, finishing 14th.

Co-captains Patrick Breault, Rothwell and Tim Seeley lead a very large squad of six seniors, seven juniors, four sophomores and seven freshmen. The group features eight returning letterwinners.

“ou never know what the freshmen will do,” said senior letterwinner Joseph Ganser. “We feel like we have a really good team from top to bottom than can run with anyone. ”

In addition to the three captains, returning letterwinners for the men include seniors Hotz and Brian McElroy, juniors David Chesny and Mercado, and sophomores Joseph Brancale and Adam Carter.

The teams kick off 2005 on Friday at the Lehigh Valley Championships, where they will face competition from multiple divisions. It’ll be the first of nine meets Muhlenberg is scheduled to run, including the Mule/Falcon Classic co-hosted by Muhlenberg and Cedar Crest, September 17.

“We want to get off to a fast start at the beginning of the season, ” said Mercado. “If we can race well at the beginning, it’ll give us confidence for the rest of the season. ”