2012 season finish
• Women finished fourth at SLIAC Championships; top runner placed seventh.
Men finished fifth at the SLIAC Championship; top runner placed eighth.
Returning from 2012
• Senior women Heather Heisse, Juile Greenough and Eroica Stackhouse ran the three fastest Webster times at SLIAC Championships.
• Heisse holds the Webster record times in the 4K, 5K and 6K races.
• Greenough finished fourth overall in the 2011 SLIAC Championship, which is Webster’s best finish in school history.
• Senior men’s Ethan Jeffries, cur rent Webster record holder in 8K event.
Four of the top five Webster runners in the 2012 SLIAC Championship.
Lost from 2012 team
• Four members from last year’s women’s team either graduated or chose not to run this season.
• Three senior runners, including 2011 team captain and four-year runner, Dan Henkey.
What to look for
• Injuries to top women runners Heisse and Greenough last year.
Coach’s outlook
Cross country head coach Dan Graber takes lead of the Gorlok runners for his first season.
Graber scheduled the fewest races for the team since 2009.
“I just think that is the indicator of a serious program,” Graber said. “Schools like (Washington University of St. Louis) and basically every school in our conference are following that same rule.”
Webster will compete in five races before the SLIAC Championship on Oct. 30.
The Webster women’s cross-country team is the only SLIAC team to return three 2012 All-Conference runners. Hessie, Greenough and Stackhouse all begin their senior seasons. Heisse is still expected to lead the team in each race.
“We have a few women that can keep up with Heather though,” Graber said. “Eroica and Julie have both been All-Conference runners for us in the past as well, so those three are really going to lead us.”
Graber takes over the smallest Webster men’s cross-country team since 2008, which had only three members.
“It makes it tough especially in cross-country, lacking depth,” Graber said. “We will need (Fletcher and Whitehead) back to be able to run our best.”
Only three runners participated at the Gabby Reuveni Invitational at Forrest Park in St. Louis, Mo. Junior Greg Fletcher developed mono and it is questionable whether he will return during the fall season.
“I don’t believe the (mono) is a serious case,” Graber said. “But something like that, I can’t rush him back and say it will happen by a certain meet.”
Graber said he sees Heisse and Jeffries as top 100 runners in the region.
Early results
The Webster women finished sixth out of 10 teams at Gabby Reuveni Early Bird Invitational on Aug. 31. Heisse and Greenough led the Gorloks finishing 20th and 39th respectively, out of 95 runners. Heisse finished the 4K race in 16:22, beating the school record that she already claimed.
Jeffries led the Gorloks on the men’s side. He finished sixth out of 104 runners and broke the Webster 6K record, finishing in 20:35. Webster’s only other runners were Hickson and freshman Cody Newlon who placed 44 and 63 respectively.
Reported by Sam Masterson.
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