Merrimack College's men's and women's cross-country teams have just started training for the upcoming indoor track season. They have worked long and hard from early May to November, toughing out hills, injuries, and the heat, and the results speak for themselves.

"Overall, I thought we had a good season," said Chris Cameron, head coach of both cross country teams.

The Warriors ended their 2015 season at the NCAA Regional Championship in Hopkinton, New Hampshire on Nov. 8. Both the men's and women's team placed eighth overall.

"At the end of the season, I thought we would have finished at least a place or two higher," Coach Cameron continued, "The competition in the region is getting better, so we are looking to continue to improve over the track season."

Coach Cameron noted many individual performances during the cross country season. For the men, senior TJ Curran ran a personal record (PR) of 27:00 in the 8K at the New England Championships, alongside junior James Wegman, who ran a PR of 26:54, and senior captain Evan Vadenais, running 26:15. Vadenais previously ran a strong 25:34 in the UMass Dartmouth Invitational, making his time the second fastest 8K record in Merrimack history. Jimmy Clark, junior, earned a cross country season best of 27:34 at New Englands. There was also junior Phil Harris, running a 25:56 8K PR in the NE-10 meet, placing first for the Warriors that day. Senior Nick Christensen ran a season best of 26:37 at the same race, helping the team place sixth overall.

There is a promising future with the program's underclassmen. As the team gets larger with every passing year, they also become more successful. Sophomore Connor Murphy opened up the cross country season with a 27:23 at the Shacklette Invitational 8K, which helped the team get fourth place. Fellow sophomore Christian Gentile ran a 26:23 at the UMass Invite, bringing the team to seventh place out of 43 teams. John Sava, one of the team's few freshmen, ran a 27:22 at the NE-10 meet, placing in the team's top seven for the race. Sophomore Keith Steinbrecher, who placed 31st overall in a field of 189 runners, led the Warriors to the eighth place finish at the Regional meet. He ended up running a 32:45 10K.

Coach Cameron recognizes the need of having the team get bigger. "Getting new recruits to continue to build upon the success of the program is what we need to remain competitive in the region and the conference for next fall," he added.

The team managed to maintain a tight group over the season, pacing off one another in workouts to run even faster in races. Captain Evan Vadenais was very pleased with the team's achievements and strength as a group.

"I felt we definitely grew together as a team," Vadenais said, "We wanted to run together as a pack, and we did just that. We had some team success and great individual performances. This team has nowhere to go but up and I think that will be evident soon. Overall, I couldn't be happier with this group of guys."

The women's team had many great performances and improvement with both their upper and underclassmen as well. Senior captain Kerry Phelan was the top-finisher for the Warriors at the NCCA meet, running a time of 23:09 for the 6K. Phelan managed to just crack the top 40. Fellow senior captain Kristin Schmidt followed, running a 23:28. Kylie Reardon, sophomore, earned a PR of 23:35 that day, helping the women achieve eighth place.

Schmidt too knows that the team's overall success was a result of how the women were all within range of each other in workouts and races. This meant consistently great placement in meets.

"As a team, I think we did very well," Schmidt commented, "I believe we had the strongest team yet for Merrimack and the tightest pack."

A couple races before at the UMass Invite, Schmidt ran a 5K season best of 19:36, first for the team and 43rd overall. Alongside her in the same race, fellow top three team placers Claire Aalerud (junior) and Maddie Mercado (sophomore) ran 19:39 and 19:45, respectively. Those times meant a new cross country 5K PR for both Aalerud and Mercado.Newcomer freshman Sophie Gorton ran a PR of 19:53 at the UMass Invite, rounding out the top five Warriors for the meet. Fellow freshman Lindsey Bjorkman also ran a PR that day with a time of 20:19. Junior Tiana Kibbe followed after, running 20:24, a season best. The team's hard work at UMass Dartmouth resulted in an eighth place finish out of 42 teams; 315 runners.

Sophomores Katie Irwin (20:21) and Randa Griffin (20:27) achieved new season bests as the women placed third in the Codfish Bowl. At the New England Championships, junior Colleen Englert landed a season best of 20:16 in the 5K. Fellow junior Sarah Duffy also ran a season best of 20:41. For the Kirsch Cup 4K race, the women ran a very tactical race, still managing to get first place. Their success as a pack continued, as the team placed fifth in NE-10's.

"We all worked together really well and pushed each other not only in workouts but races too," Schmidt continued, "Although we didn't place as high as we hoped in the [NCAA] championships, I still felt like we finished strong!"

Coach Cameron believes that the teams will move up even more by continuing to tighten as a pack to push off one another.

"What we need is several members of the team to take it to the next level so we can have people who are all conference and all region runners," he added.

The Warriors' cross-country teams will have their first indoor track meet on Saturday, January 16for the Tufts Invitational.

Men's team: http://www.merrimackathletics.com/sports/mxc/index

Women's team: http://www.merrimackathletics.com/sports/wxc/index

Photo credit: Mark Connolly.