PITTSBURG — The Pittsburg State University women's and men's cross country teams will make their season debuts Saturday (Aug. 23) by hosting their annual Alumni Meet at Countryside Golf Course.

The women's three-mile race begins at 8 a.m. (CDT) with the men's four-mile race to follow at 8:30 a.m.

Pitt State head coach Ben Barrows returns a pair of veteran squads from 2024. The Pitt State women captured their third straight MIAA title a year ago, while the Pitt State men placed second in the conference before racing to a program best seventh place finish at the 2024 NCAA Division II National Championships.

"Coming off an extremely successful 2024-25 year, we are excited to see who steps up into leadership roles both performance-wise and culture-wise," Barrows said. "After graduating many several fantastic performers and leaders, there are some big shoes to fill but I believe we have some athletes who are ready and capable to fill those shoes."
 
The Pitt State women claimed the MIAA Championship last year as the Gorillas secured their sixth conference crown in the last seven seasons (2017-19, '22-24). Nebraska-Kearney claimed the MIAA title in 2021; and MIAA squads did not compete in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Gorillas return one All-MIAA performer from last year's team in sophomore Lorna Rae Pierce (6^th place finish) as well as a deep cast of veteran performers in senior Hailey Secrest, redshirt juniors Kelsey Bruening and Kaci Singer, junior Paige Mullen and redshirt sophomores Phoebe Fletcher, Hannah Gibson and Emily Vandaveer.

"The women's team should be led by a formidable trio between Paige Mullen, Hannah Gibson and Lorna Rae Pierce," Barrows said. "Paige had tremendous growth last semester during track season and she is ready to translate that to cross country this fall. Hannah also had a great outdoor track season after missing the 2024 cross country season due to injury and she is off to a great start in preseason practices. Lorna Rae showed very high levels of poise and confidence in her performances as a true freshman last year and she excited to get back on the grass this fall. Kaci Singer redshirted all of last year but she worked extremely hard in training and is ready to put the jersey back on. Phoebe Fletcher unexpectedly stepped up into an important role last fall in her first cross country season and I'm really excited to see her continue to grow into bigger roles in the program."

The Gorillas parlayed their MIAA Championship into a sixth trip to the NCAA Division II National Championships in 2024. Pitt State placed 19th overall at nationals.

"Without as much proven depth of high-level conference performers this year, we have less room for error when championship season rolls around, but I still believe in the team's capability to win the conference championship and qualify to nationals," Barrows said. "Recruiting has gone very well for a few other squads in the MIAA in the past few years, so those teams are gaining more experience and will be hungry. We've got to continue to do what we've always done - focus on the process and what we need to accomplish each day to give ourselves the best chances of being successful on the days that matter most, the championship meets."

The Pitt State men placed second at the 2024 MIAA Championships last year and ultimately recorded a program best seventh place overall finish at the 2024 NCAA Division II National Championships in November. The Gorillas return an All-MIAA performer in redshirt junior Dylan Sprecker (8^th place finish) as well as an additional group of veteran runners in redshirt juniors Tyler Atkins, Nathan Hinrichs, Jordan Kilonzo, Jason Swartzlander and redshirt senior Travis Sickles.

"Among returners from the squad, Dylan Sprecker is a proven and consistent performer on both the conference and national stage in cross country and track and continues to steadily improve.  Nathan Hinrichs has also been training very well and has a history of performing very well at the cross country national meet and will be looking to spread that success through the rest of the season.  Tyler Atkins was also in our top 5 at nationals last fall and has had a great summer and is very motivated right now.  Travis Sickles, Jason Swartzlander, Jordan Kilonzo, Andrew Early, and Nick Kilonzo are all doing great and our top five will likely be filled out by a couple of them."

The Gorillas will seek the program's third MIAA crown in five seasons in 2025. Pitt State claimed MIAA titles in 2021 and 2023. The Gorillas made their ninth all-time appearance at the NCAA-II National Championships a year ago, the fourth consecutive berth in the national meet. Pitt State's seventh place showing bested its previous NCAA era benchmark 11^th place finish in 2023.

"While we were extremely proud after finishing on a high note placing 7^th at nationals last fall, we were not too pleased with our season as a whole," Barrows said. "While it may not look like we return a whole lot of depth in cross country on paper, I see what these guys do every day, how committed they are to the program, and how hard they work. I believe this group has the ability to surprise a lot of people this fall and contend for high finishes at conference and regionals, hopefully resulting in another successful national meet in the end and a strong season in general. Time will tell what the ceiling for the men is, but we will continue to focus on executing our training to the best of our ability every day."