Rangers Cross Country poised to make strides in 2022

Aug 30 | By: Caty Llamas, Athletics Graduate Assistant

DENVER, Colo. – Students are back on campus, classes have begun, and the Regis University Men's and Women's Cross Country teams are busy preparing for the 2022 season. With eight returners and a handful of new faces, the Rangers look to make large strides in the upcoming season.

The Rangers Cross Country teams will be running in a total of seven meets this summer, including a big October test at the University of California-Riverside Highlander Invitational in Riverside, California.

"Riverside is a totally different meet. Our kids go and compete against NCAA Division I, Division II, junior college, NAIA runners, and there's going to be 42 teams there," said Regis head cross country coach, John Esquibel.

Regis returns from California to run in the UCCS 8K at the end of October; the team's final tune-up before heading off to the 2022 RMAC Championships, hosted November 5 by Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.

RETURNERS
Regis cross country will be returning eight runners from the 2021 season. The roster includes three seniors, two juniors, and one sophomore. Senior McKenna Uhing and sophomore William Oakes found themselves amongst the top runners during the 2021 season and are looking to make a similar impact in 2022.

"McKenna was my outstanding athlete last year. Almost every single week she ran a Personal Record. Out of the seven competitions, she did it five times," said Esquibel. "Will has shown some leadership this year. He ran well last year and I expect him to continue to improve this year."

NEWCOMERS
The Rangers welcome four new faces to the squad this year. True freshmen Ryann Sheehan, Mariah Heuer, Abigail Blanner, and Eric Casey will be making their debuts with the Rangers during the 2022 season. All four runners bring extensive cross country mileage to the team and Esquibel expects them to compete for starting spots early on.

"Mariah's from Wyoming and her coach was the University of Wyoming's coach for many years, so she has the mileage. She's very tough," Esquibel said. "I think she'll come around and we'll see some big things from her and she'll be competitive at races."

Between Casey and Heuer, Esquibel expects both of them to be able to push the returning upperclassmen and help the Rangers take those crucial steps forward.

"Those two freshmen, I mean yeah. I tell the upperclassmen that these are the people you have to go with and these are people that will push them," Esquibel said. "These two will make the rest of the group more competitive. That's what we all want."

LOOKING FORWARD
The Rangers are set to open their 2022 season at the UCCS Rust Buster Invitational hosted by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs at Monument Valley Park.

"It's always fun to watch our first meet," Esquibel said. "[UCCS head coach] Mark Misch does a really good job hosting two meets. I think the Rust Buster is a neat meet because it's only a 5k for the women and 5-miles for the guys. We don't get that opportunity often."

And while the name of the meet "Rust Buster" implies shaking off some of the offseason cobwebs, Esquibel said the team is hoping to get the 2022 season off to a fast start during the trip to Colorado Springs.

"What I hope is we come out and do get at least six or seven PRs out of the 12 kids that we have at that distance. To set a new PR after high school is a good way to start the season," Esquibel said. "I think by then we'll be acclimated to the altitude. It's a fun meet and there's only five teams. I think we'll show some improvement from last year's times."

As for the remainder of the season, the Rangers are focused on staying healthy and raising the bar with each performance as the calendar inches closer to the RMAC Championships and South Central Regional meets in November.

"For the upperclassmen, I want them to stay healthy. Right off the bat, we have some injuries we're working through," Esquibel said. "But that's part of running. We need to make sure we're taking care of ourselves throughout the year."

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