With senior All-American Ann Somerville leading a group of young but experienced runners, the women’s cross country team is looking strong heading into the 12th annual Spartan Invitational today. The women’s race will follow the men’s about 6:15 p.m., at Forest Akers East Golf Course.
Somerville, who finished 27th nationally last year, will be complemented by now-healthy junior Cindy Durocher, stellar sophomores Michelle Carson, Jamie Krzyminski and promising freshman Katie Anderson, forming a nicely balanced squad for head coach Jim Stintzi.
“We’re very deep up front,” Stintzi said. “I think our top five can run at a pretty elite level if they stay healthy and everything goes to plan. Potentially, they could all be in the top 50 or 75 in the country. They’ve all had national marks at some point in their careers.”
Aside from Somerville, the Spartans are very young. Durocher missed a large chunk of last season because of an injury, and Anderson only has one collegiate race on her résume.
But Stintzi said there’s no need to worry.
“Obviously, experience is what you want to have,” he said. “But with a young team, if they look at things the right way, there are no preconceived notions about where they’ll finish and they can sometimes exceed expectations.
“The women’s team can challenge for the Big Ten Championship. I don’t think they’re favored, but they could be in the hunt. And, if they stay healthy, they could be a top-15 team in the country.”
Carson agreed, saying the Spartans are “very strong” this year.
“Our top seven are all strong enough to be right up there every race,” said Carson, who was the Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Week after winning the Grand Valley Fall Classic on Aug. 31.
“We’re really young, but we have some experience under our belts. It bodes well for the future, having a strong nucleus for the next two or three years.”
Today’s invitational will bring teams from Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Oakland, Wayne State, Akron, Northwood, Hillsdale and Lansing and Macomb community colleges to campus. The event will not compute team scores, but Stintzi said he’ll be monitoring his team’s times as though it were a real competition.
One reason team scores won’t be kept is because today’s race is open to the public for the first time ever.
“It’s an experiment for sure,” Stintzi said. “We want to get more people out here to see what cross country is all about. There’ll be three or four national-caliber guys from Hanson’s Running (Shop) in Detroit here too, so it’ll be a good mix of elite runners, collegiate runners and people off the street.”
Stintzi said the course is pretty runner-friendly and most people enjoy racing on it. Those interested in competing in today’s open race can register at Forest Akers East between 4:30 and 5:45 p.m.
