Nov 11, 2015 By John Babos 3 min read

The Waynesburg University men’s cross country team has seven individuals competing in the Division III Mideast Regional Championship on Saturday Nov. 14.

The seven Jacket’s that will be competing Saturday are senior Ben McAuley, juniors Cody Nail, Justin Simmons and Casey Heimberger and freshmen Joel Kuzminski, Jacob Pryor and Josh Olive.

“McAuley will run great because he has been at regionals before,” said head coach Chris Hardie. “This is great experience for our three freshman runners. Simmons, Nail and Heimberger also have been there like McAuley.”

The Yellow Jackets’ practice has been closed to everyone else. The only runners that have been practicing this week are the seven men and women runners. This has not stopped the other runners from participating in supporting their team. They have been writing letters to fellow teammates that will compete Saturday, encouraging them to stay focused and to get the job done.

Kuzminski is not startled for the upcoming Saturday meet.

“It is just a normal meet. I am not over thinking anything. I am just drinking a lot of water and stretching to stay loose,” said Kuzminski.

As this could be McAuley’s last race, he said he is looking to have fun.

“This could be my last race so it’s all a mental thing with me, I am just looking to go out and compete and have fun.” said McAuley.

The Jackets have been looking to close the gap times down and Hardie has felt the team has been doing this each week.

“I feel like our gap time has been pretty tight. I won’t be seeing any eye opening times this week,” said Hardie. “I am looking for consistent time under 30 minutes or close to it.”

Even Kuzminski is talking about closing the gap time for this race.

“I feel if we get our pack running down then we can be really successful at Regionals,” said Kuzminski. “The meets leading up to the regionals have helped me get ready for this one. As long as we give effort as a team we should have a good outing Saturday.”

Hardie is training his runners on speed this week, as he wants his runners to finish strong and feels this will help them for the race. Hardie has also been coaching quick turnovers this week.

McAuley is looking for a solid finish to his career at Waynesburg.

“I’m looking to finish in the top 20,” said McAuley.

This meet is set up with seven runners from each school participating in the race. The top 35 runners will get All-Region and the top seven freshman will get All-Freshman. The top 21 runners who finish will move on.

The meet Saturday is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. in Newville, Pennsylvania.