TicketsCINCINNATI— University of Cincinnati men's and women's cross country coaches Lucas Rothenberger and Sarah Anderson are ready to go for the 2023 season.
As men's and women's cross country teams prepare to begin their seasons, both coaches discussed expectations for the season, how the team is coming together, and more. The Bearcats begin the 2023 season on Sept.1, as the teams will head to Oxford, Ohio to compete in the RedHawk Rumble.
LUCAS ROTHENBERGER INTERVIEW:
On the team's expectations for the upcoming year.
"I think the biggest thing we are looking for is improvement. It's my third season working with this group. A lot of them I've been with for three seasons now in cross country, so I think the biggest thing is continuing to improve, not only on their times but on their lifestyle and how they conduct themselves. As well as their approach to becoming more elite distance runners. That's going to be the biggest thing, continued improvement. Which is really easy to measure on a day-to-day basis.
On building chemistry early in the season.
We're lucky that we have some really good team leaders. With COVID we do have a little bit of a gap between a really talented group that's a little bit older, but we also have some really talented young guys. It'll be better than last year, we have more people who are freshmen and sophomores. So just socially I think it'll be important to connect outside of just the training and the workouts. I think that's going to be critical to our success because we are going to have some young guys who are going to make an immediate impact for us."
On the return team leaders Tyler Wirth and Matt Hoak
"With the age of the transfer portal, it would have been really easy for some of these guys to look for other places but I think the biggest thing is that they love Cincinnati, they love running for UC. So having two guys like that who are really talented athletically, it's going to mean the world. It really is cool for me as a coach, I've watched them grow for a couple of years now and we're going to go as they go. They are the cornerstone of the team, so Tyler Wirth, Matt Hoak are definitely athletes that are going to be integral to the success of the program this fall."
SARAH ANDERSON INTERVIEW:
On the team's expectations for the upcoming year.
"With our transition to the Big 12, rebranding with a new team. The biggest thing is finding our grounding and finding who we are as a team. What's our why behind what we're doing? So with that, we are coming to this conference and we've got high goals and expectations. We're not here to just beat around the bush, we actually want to compete at a high level within the Big 12. Some goals are trying to get within the top half of the conference, trying to crack the top 10 in the regional meet, we've never done that before, the highest finish we've had is 11. So, try to get top 10 and ultimately try and get an athlete or two to the national meet this fall, that would be great."
On the importance of building chemistry early in the season
"Something we preach every single day at practice is what are ways we can take care of each other. How can I be selfless, how can I make sure my teammates are being taken care of. Every weekend they're trading logs. We give them some type of mental health piece to work on and a lot of that is just uplifting our teammates and that's something I take really big pride in with our recruiting is the culture we have here at UC is a family. These are going to be your future bridesmaids and people you'll have in your life for a long time so just making sure they are taking care of each other early on and they understand that relationships are important, we set that tone and that culture will go from there."
On Maddie Walker and Carmela Henning retuning for another year.
"I'm so excited to have Maddie (Walker) and Carmela (Henning) back. We are a very underclassmen-heavy group this year, so just having two studs up top who've been around the block and they know what training at a high level looks like, they know what competing at a conference level looks like. They're just going to be phenomenal leaders for our young ones with their personal experience. Again, just with their own personal experience, coming back from injuries, whether it's cross training, volume, all that stuff, they just know the ropes at UC and their going to be great mentors for this young group as we transition into this new conference."
// FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For all the latest information on Cincinnati Track and Field/Cross Country, please visit GoBEARCATS.com. and follow @GoBearcatsTFXC on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
As men's and women's cross country teams prepare to begin their seasons, both coaches discussed expectations for the season, how the team is coming together, and more. The Bearcats begin the 2023 season on Sept.1, as the teams will head to Oxford, Ohio to compete in the RedHawk Rumble.
LUCAS ROTHENBERGER INTERVIEW:
On the team's expectations for the upcoming year.
"I think the biggest thing we are looking for is improvement. It's my third season working with this group. A lot of them I've been with for three seasons now in cross country, so I think the biggest thing is continuing to improve, not only on their times but on their lifestyle and how they conduct themselves. As well as their approach to becoming more elite distance runners. That's going to be the biggest thing, continued improvement. Which is really easy to measure on a day-to-day basis.
On building chemistry early in the season.
We're lucky that we have some really good team leaders. With COVID we do have a little bit of a gap between a really talented group that's a little bit older, but we also have some really talented young guys. It'll be better than last year, we have more people who are freshmen and sophomores. So just socially I think it'll be important to connect outside of just the training and the workouts. I think that's going to be critical to our success because we are going to have some young guys who are going to make an immediate impact for us."
On the return team leaders Tyler Wirth and Matt Hoak
"With the age of the transfer portal, it would have been really easy for some of these guys to look for other places but I think the biggest thing is that they love Cincinnati, they love running for UC. So having two guys like that who are really talented athletically, it's going to mean the world. It really is cool for me as a coach, I've watched them grow for a couple of years now and we're going to go as they go. They are the cornerstone of the team, so Tyler Wirth, Matt Hoak are definitely athletes that are going to be integral to the success of the program this fall."
SARAH ANDERSON INTERVIEW:
On the team's expectations for the upcoming year.
"With our transition to the Big 12, rebranding with a new team. The biggest thing is finding our grounding and finding who we are as a team. What's our why behind what we're doing? So with that, we are coming to this conference and we've got high goals and expectations. We're not here to just beat around the bush, we actually want to compete at a high level within the Big 12. Some goals are trying to get within the top half of the conference, trying to crack the top 10 in the regional meet, we've never done that before, the highest finish we've had is 11. So, try to get top 10 and ultimately try and get an athlete or two to the national meet this fall, that would be great."
On the importance of building chemistry early in the season
"Something we preach every single day at practice is what are ways we can take care of each other. How can I be selfless, how can I make sure my teammates are being taken care of. Every weekend they're trading logs. We give them some type of mental health piece to work on and a lot of that is just uplifting our teammates and that's something I take really big pride in with our recruiting is the culture we have here at UC is a family. These are going to be your future bridesmaids and people you'll have in your life for a long time so just making sure they are taking care of each other early on and they understand that relationships are important, we set that tone and that culture will go from there."
On Maddie Walker and Carmela Henning retuning for another year.
"I'm so excited to have Maddie (Walker) and Carmela (Henning) back. We are a very underclassmen-heavy group this year, so just having two studs up top who've been around the block and they know what training at a high level looks like, they know what competing at a conference level looks like. They're just going to be phenomenal leaders for our young ones with their personal experience. Again, just with their own personal experience, coming back from injuries, whether it's cross training, volume, all that stuff, they just know the ropes at UC and their going to be great mentors for this young group as we transition into this new conference."
// FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For all the latest information on Cincinnati Track and Field/Cross Country, please visit GoBEARCATS.com. and follow @GoBearcatsTFXC on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.