The men’s and women’s cross-country teams arrived in Sioux Falls, S. D., last night to begin preparation for the NCAA Division II Cross Country Central Region Championships.

“It will be a very, very competitive meet,” said Patty Vavra, women’s track and field head coach, when talking about the other conferences in the central region such as the Northern Sun, the Great American Conference, and of course the MIAA.

The team was lead all season by the only upperclassman and number one runner, junior Dora Eastin, followed by sophomore Addie Mengwasser. Eastin knows the feeling of a successful season, as she was a part of the third place national team in 2009.

“Probably half of our top seven are freshmen,” said Vavra, “so we are asking a lot of them, but they have answered the call the entire year, as have the upperclassmen.”

The course in Sioux Falls is quite different than the MSSU Cross Country Course. This weekend’s course is flatter with less foliage than the Lions home course, but it is similar to the MIAA conference championship course.  To prepare for this course, the women’s team has been doing fewer hill workouts and more work on getting off the starting line and foot speed.

“I think the most difficult thing we have battled this year is ‘staying awake’,” said Vavra. “What I call ‘awake’ is in the middle of the course when you get to that second mile or so, you are out there where you have ran pretty hard to that point, you’re not that close to the finish yet. You just have to be prepared to stay together and that is where pack running will really come in handy.”

Men’s Cross Country

The men’s cross-country team has been doing more speed work to prepare for the regional meet.

“We have been doing everything under a mile, such as 800s and 1200s,” said sophomore Ryan Jackson. “We have been practicing with high intensity and just running a little bit faster than normal and shorter distances.”

The men’s team will be running at full strength this weekend, with seven runners including the top three, sophomore Eric Schott, senior Jake Benton and junior Andrew Webster.

“We are exciting to show everybody the Southern that we should have been all season,” Jackson said.

There is a possibility for cold weather and strong winds in Sioux Falls this weekend. So throughout today, the teams will be previewing the course, doing light workouts to keep their legs fresh, and getting used to the weather change up north.