JEREMY WECHSLER New cross country coach J. R. Gaige is looking forward to a promising season.

Coach of Archrival Ephs Defects to Lead X-Country Men Aim for Top Ten By Josh Krinsky Contributing Writer There is much excitement surrounding the men’s 1998 cross country team. The team is coming off a solid 1997 campaign in which they finished sixth in the powerful NESAC conference which is one of the strongest in Division III, and also came in eleventh in the northeast region. While last year’s finish was quite respectable, the team is looking for much more this year. Returning are six seniors, all of whom made contributions and gained valuable experience last year. Among those are seniors Mike Keating and Greg Pederson , who have been standouts for the squad throughout their careers here at Wesleyan. Both are looking forward to huge senior seasons.

Captain John Raby ’99 is optimistic about the team’s chances this year. He credits the returning runners on maintaining an impressive training regimen over the summer. The regimen began as slower paced, long distance running and ended by mixing in speed work as well.

"Guys really put in a good deal of work this summer," Raby said. "It should definitely pay off during the season."

Something else that should pay off is first year coach J. R. Gaige, who comes to Wesleyan after spending last year as the interim coach at arch rival Williams.

"I hate to say it, but the team up at Williams has been doing something right for a long time now," Raby said, adding that Coach Gaige is no exception. "He has brought an energy to the team that I have never seen before. The attitude is really great this year."

Coach Gaige has similar sentiments about the team’s attitude and work ethic.

"They have done everything I have asked of them so far," Gaige explains, "They are in good shape, and work extremely hard. Their effort is consistant and practice runs very smoothly."

Gaige also praised the leadership of the team. He commends the seniors on being natural leaders who compliment captains Raby and Anders Peterson ’99.

Depth is another factor that should help the team improve on last year’s mark. The Cardinals, with at least 10 or 11 quality runners should have a step up on the competition. With seven runners competing per meet, the others will have to be ready to step up as the effects of a long grueling season take their toll.

In addition to the seniors, a few underclassmen seem ready to contribute this year. Dan Lazarek ’02 and Michael Fox-Boyd ’01 have both had impressive pre-seasons and should see some action. Those two, coupled with Raul Lavarreda Perez ’00, add some youth to a very veteran club.

However, Raby believes that improvement from last year will not be entirely due to physical factors, but more to the change in attitude.

"This is the closest knit team I’ve ever been around," Raby said.

A lot of this unity sprang from the fact that many runners have been together on the team for a few years now.

In addition to this, the team took a trip before school started to the White Mountians. There they trained, bonded and took the chance to discuss their goals and expectations. The trip was a huge success as the team returned tighter and more committed then before.

Raby and Peterson believe that this year the squad can finally make the leap to the upper echelon of the league. That would be an impressive feet considering that both Williams and Tufts were ranked in the top 10 nationwide in the preseason rankings. Amherst also cracked the pre-season top 20.

"Anything is possible," Raby explains with confidence. "We’ve got a great team, a great coach, and we’re going to sneak up on some teams. We should easily improve on last year, and it’s not too unrealistic to think we can make the jump and hang with the elite teams in the league."

"I cannot say yet that we will be able to make the jump, but I know we will improve immensely," an equally optimistic but more guarded Coach Gaige added. "The only gaurantee I will make is that everyone will enjoy the season and that when it’s over we’ll be proud of how far we have come."

The exciting 1998 season opens up this Saturday when the Cards travel to Trinity to take on the Bantams and neighboring Conn College. The team can hardly wait.