2008 Men's Cross Country Season Preview

The Hood College men’s cross country roster boasts 19 runners, including the five returning top-seven runners.

For much of last season, junior William Andrews and senior Nick Manning traded off at the No. 1 spot and are prepared to pick up where they left off. Andrews hopes to become Hood’s first male cross country runner to earn All-CAC honors. Junior Blair Ames, who was steadily among the top five last year, also returns this season. “Blair has gained significant strength over the summer and looks good in early season workouts,” said head coach Brent Ayer.

Ayer expects junior Brendan Greenlees to be the surprise of the team this season. Last year, Greenlees went from being the seventh-man to pushing William Andrews on the track in the spring.

Additionally, six runners from the previous year return looking to vie for a spot in the top seven: seniors Ben Caplins, Will Emory and Mattia Mabellini, juniors David McDuffie and Tim Kuhn and sophomore Ola Komolafe.

“We are pretty solid in our first four runners, but the other spots in our top seven are wide open,” Ayer said. “We have plenty of candidates who are in a position to step up.”
Newcomers include freshmen Brian Cathcart, Matt Cosgrave and Kyle Peters and sophomores Rod Hendrickson and Andrew Weiss.

This season Hood hopes to build on last year’s fourth-place finish in the Capital Athletic Conference.

“We should be in a position to match it this year, although it may be tough to improve on that,” Ayer said.