The CWU cross country teams have had three meets so far this season. The Wildcats are a young team and it’s early in the season, but they are looking forward to future meets to attempt to meet their goals and expectations.

The CWU cross country teams are looking to move up notches in the conference level.

“I think we finished fifth or sixth last year in the conference,” said head coach Kevin Adkisson. “We were picked in the preseason for both teams to finish fifth at the conference level and both teams have the goal of definitely being higher than that.”

Adkisson emphasized that they are still in the first half of the season training-wise and are in their strength and preparation phase. Adkisson is hopeful that the CWU cross country teams are looking to move up notches at the conference level.

Senior leader on the women’s side Alexa Shindruk has been a significant part of the team’s success. Adkisson expressed that with Shindruk having just missed nationals the previous season, she has been able to continue her success heading into the bulk of this season.

“We are really excited for her as she gets into her final campaign to take that step and have a chance to represent us at the highest level,” Adkisson said.

Adkisson added that the next runner-up on the women’s team is Nicole Soleim, a sophomore who, alongside Shindruk, has been helping to bring the next group of younger runners along.

The goals this year for the teams are to improve their placement at the GNAC Championships and then at the regional meet in Billings, Montana.

Shindruk said that part of the team’s preparation includes completing workouts and moving up as a pack in races. She also stated that the team practices working together and encouraging each other to work hard, which helps the overall team dynamic.

“I’ve been really impressed about the performance of the team so far, especially the incoming freshmen,” Shindruk said. “We have a new group of people and so I’ve been excited for the rest of the season based on how people have done so far.”

Adkisson said that on the men’s team, freshman Turlan Morlan has been leading the pack for the Wildcats. Morlan is from Spokane, Washington and is followed by senior Corbin Carlton. Adkisson stated that Carlton is also a top runner on the team and has been doing a great job bridging the gap between the rest of the guys on the team.

In what was their first meet of the season, Carlton finished ninth for the Wildcats at the CWU Invite with a time of 23:23 for seven kilometers. In addition to Carlton’s ninth-place finish, Shindruk boasted a second place finish on the women’s team with a time of 18:25 for five kilometers. The meet included fellow GNAC opponents Seattle Pacific University (SPU) and Western Washington University (WWU) and was a great opportunity for the Wildcats to get their feet set within the conference.

With a tight pack of runners, Carlton noted that the men’s team is looking pretty strong this year and has a lot of potential for growth.

“We train at pacing and we are all trying to be right up there with the rest of the pack,” Carlton said. “We are training to get better and not stay the same.”