Seniors lead way for cross country

A pre-season No. 2 ranking is hard to live up to. Yet that's what the cross country Mocs must deal with this fall. Coach Bill Gautier is not worried because he has a solid group of young men and women - his seniors. They are the ones that drive a team forward in many situations. Sometimes younger players will lead by example but for the most part, a senior laden team is one that a coach has a lot of confidence in. Even when they cannot help on the track due to injury, they will often do what they can off the track.

Coach Gautier does not have many seniors, but the ones he does have are strong leaders and immensely important to the coming cross country season for the running Mocs.

Five seniors - four on the men's team and one for the women's - will be examples for what is mostly a youthful team.

Shelley Taylor, a senior from Cohutta, Ga., was an all-conference performer last season and looks to lead a balanced women's team that also includes junior all-conference performer Tara Gietema of Knoxville.

The Lady Mocs will try to live up to a pre-season No. 2 ranking and then after winning the last three women's SoCon cross country championships.

The men's team will be led by David Moore of Ontario, Canada. The senior had three top 10 performances last season and set a personal best in the 8k while finishing in the top 15 at the Southern Conference championships. He is joined by a trio of Tennessee natives in Blake Ketron of Kingsport, Michael Danehy from Morristown and Kevin Huwe of Murfreesboro.

Huwe and Ketron have both performed well in the past when it comes to long-distance running and had previous bests of 21st and 36th, respectively, in the Southern Conference Championships.

Danehy, a transfer from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, had a strong showing for the track team during its indoor and outdoor seasons and looks to build upon that this fall in cross country.

The men's team is rounded out by juniors Chris Berry of Murfreesboro and all-conference performer Emmanuel Kirwa from Kapsabet, Kenya.