Talent-laden Whit harriers ready for invite
The Missionaries boast young talent as well as experience headed into the cross country season.
With two cross country teams in tow, coach Malcolm Dunn gets to showcase experience as well as youthful talent when he hosts the annual Whitman College Invitational this Saturday at Fort Walla Walla Park.
The Missionaries are a relatively experienced lot on the men\'s side, where the returning talent includes a handful of seasoned veterans who figure to run at the front of Whitman\'s lead pack.
The women\'s storyline promises to run in a different direction, led by a number of speedy first-year athletes.
Saturday\'s invitational gets underway at 10:45 a.m. with the women\'s 4,000 meters, followed by the men\'s 6,000 meters at about 11:15 a.m. Runners from Whitworth College and Northwest Nazarene University will also compete.
Dunn starts his second coaching season at Whitman with 22 women and 15 men on the rosters.
``It\'s going to be a good season for both teams,\'\' he predicted. ``As a coach, it was great to see how many quality runners showed up for the first day of workouts, ready to run and train hard.\'\'
Dunn sees enough ability and depth to forecast better seasons ahead for his Whitman teams, both of which placed seventh at last falls Northwest Conference Championships.
Despite its relative youth, the women\'s squad is blessed with a good deal of raw talent. Both Sara McCune, a first-year runner from Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis, and Yasmeen Colis, a recent graduate of Wa-Hi, are prized recruits who might well run one-two for the Missionaries.
``I wouldn\'t be surprised to see both Sarah and Yasmeen earn all-conference honors this fall,\'\' Dunn said. ``There isn\'t a coach in the conference who wouldn\'t love to have both of them. We\'re excited to have them with us.\'\'
Caitlin Kearney, a Whitman senior captain, is the only returning veteran who Dunn expects to run in his women\'s top five. She didn\'t compete in her first year at Whitman but has made steady progress over the past two seasons. She made the teams top five at last falls regional championship race.
Despite the large size of his women\'s roster, Dunn plans to take everyone to most meets - at least to those meets where schools aren\'t limited in their number of entries.
``We hope every runner gets to run in at least four college races,\'\' he said.
While college experience is scarce among the Whitman women, that isn\'t the case on the men\'s side. Dunn\'s projected top five includes senior Sam Clark, junior Brian Woods, sophomore Nick Littman and senior Adam Kopet.
``As a team, our men\'s squad is coming off a much better summer of training than was the case a year ago,\'\' Dunn said. ``Last year, our best time in the early 3-kilometer team time trial was 10:01. Last weekend, our top four runners broke 9:40 and Adam Kopet ran a personal-best 9:53.\'\'
To help runners ease into the new season, both races this Saturday will be 2,000 meters shorter than the standard college lengths.
Whitman teams get their first full-length test on Sept. 9, at the Lewis & Clark Invitational at McIver Park near Estacada, Ore. The NWC Championships are set this fall for Oct. 28 at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.