Cross Country is by no means a glorious sport or a spectator sport, but hard work and determination are necessary. The Spartan boys wake up daily at 6am to run several miles before the majority of campus presses snooze on their alarms. Each year is a difficult one, but this year has brought a new set of challenges for the UT Men's Cross Country team.
This summer one of the teams top runners, Jeremy Lautzenheiser, lost control of his iconic 'Danger Ranger' and crashed into a ditch. Luckily he suffered from a couple of cuts and a broken wrist. None the less he was out for the season, giving a serious blow to the varsity squad.
Then right before the season started tragedy struck. Senior runner Ryan McCall was murdered in a robbery walking back to his home. Junior runner Joe Ranalli said "It's something that you would never expect. The team will defiantly not be the same without him, but this season is for him and hes truly touched all of us."
"Ryan will not be forgotten," said roommate Kevin Harley, "everything we do this year will be for Ryan, despite everything stacked against us, we have to stay positive and build off of this."
In memory of McCall the teams uniforms have a RM printed on them. Also the home meet was dedicated to him memory.
Despite all the hardships of Lautzenheiser, McCall, and top runner Tony Nicolosi red shirting the team moves forward.
The season began September 4th with a home meet, the UT Early Bird Classic in Brandon, Florida. Due to rain and lightning the meet was delayed and both mens and womens teams ran a 5k (men normally run an 8k). Statistics are not currently available.
On September 18th the Spartans headed to Gainesville to compete in the Mountain Dew Invitational at the University of Florida. The Spartans were led by Spartan senior Chris Catanach who placed 24th followed by a quality performance from a young squad.
The Spartans are looking forward to growing into their potential. With a good group of freshman getting Varsity time the freshman are getting good experience which should help with maturing into a very good team.
The Men head to pre-Nationals in Evansville, Indiana then return to run at the Disney Invite then conference in Lakeland, Florida and host Regionals at their home course in Brandon, Florida.
Senior runner Steve Cain said, "We knew coming in after this summer it was going to be a tough year, but we're growing and making progress, that's all you can ask for. We have to make the best of the situation and I think we're doing alright at that."
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In the second paragraph, I think it would help to explain the "danger ranger," it could confuse people. Also I think an "only" was missing after, "Luckily he..."
ReplyDeleteGood story, it has alot of human interest.
MD