The University of Illinois Springfield cross country teams start their fifth seasons this week. Each year, the Prairie Stars have improved their finishes in the GLVC meet, and both the men's and women's squads are expecting to do that again after returning the majority of their rosters.
 
The men's team believes it has the depth to be in the mix for a conference championship and NCAA nationals berth if they are able to stay healthy. Last season, the Prairie Stars had their top-five runners finish in the top-25 at the conference meet, and UIS had a program-best third-place showing.
 
Fourteen athletes are back from last year's squad, and it lost just one person who regularly scored for the Prairie Stars. UIS will enter the year ranked seventh in a tough region that includes five ranked teams, including the No. 1 team in NCAA Division II.
 
Leading the way among the returners is two all-conference runners. Junior Tyler Pasley improved 31 spots in the 2018 GLVC race and finished fifth, and sophomore Blake Jones placed 12th in his first conference meet. Senior Brendan Kroeger and junior Ryan Stark finished in the top-25 at the GLVC meet, and senior Tyler Hiserote was sixth on the team with a 33rd-place showing.
 
All five of those could contend for an all-conference spot this year, as well as two other runners. Sophomore Cayden Kirkham is one of the most improved runners on the team, and is expected to be among the top-seven on the team. The top newcomer is sophomore Wyatt McIntyre, who transfers from the University of Illinois.
 
The UIS women's team returns 10 runners from last year's team, including all of its runners that regularly scored for the Prairie Stars. UIS set program-bests with a seventh-place GLVC finish and a 19th-place NCAA Regional showing.
 
The top returner is sophomore Taryn Christy, the 2018 GLVC Freshman of the Year. Christy earned all-GLVC honors after finishing fourth at the conference meet, and she was the team's leading runner in every meet that she competed in. Christy should be among the handful of conference runners that will contend for the GLVC Individual Championship.
 
Juniors Gloria Esarco and Savannah Brannan, as well as sophomore Alexa Thomsen, all finished in the top-50 at the conference meet last year. That trio should be improved after another year of experience, and should help the team move up the GLVC standings.
 
The biggest change in 2019 will be with a new head coach in Tyler Pence. Pence is not a stranger to the program after serving as an assistant coach the last three years. He brings a lot of experience from his own running, as he is a former all-GLVC distance runner, and is currently training for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
 
Another change is in the team's schedule. After opening up the season this Friday with the Prairie Stars Invitational, UIS will compete in two NCAA Division I meets, as well as one of the toughest regular season NCAA Division II meets. Pence believes the tougher schedule will help the program when it reaches the postseason with the Oct. 26 GLVC meet and the Nov. 9 NCAA Division II Midwest Regional.
 
"The best quality about this year's cross country teams is that they are hard workers," said Pence. "They want to be great, and if everything goes as planned, they will accomplish just that."