Captains Dan Foley (left) and John Leaf.
Captains Leaf and Foley lead the team out on their morning training run.
Coach Jed Friedrich welcomed 21 runners back to campus to begin training for the 2008 season which will begin Sept. 13 at the Grinnell College Invitational. Senior captains John Leaf and Dan Foley will lead a veteran squad that includes nine juniors and seniors that lettered last season.
The Gusties will need to replace all-conference and all-region performer Chris deLaubenfels and all-region performer Alex Horton who graduated, however six of the team’s top eight runners return from a squad that finished fifth at the MIAC Championships. That group includes John Leaf (Sr., Center City, Minn.), who finished 22nd at the MIAC Championships, Dan Foley (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.) who finished 44th, Alex Prieve (Sr., Faribault, Minn.) who placed 49th, Mark Hartman (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) who finished 62nd, Jeremy Kuhn (So., St. Michael, Minn.) who placed 69th, and John Kennedy (Jr., Coon Rapids, Minn.) who finished 70th.
The team will train twice daily over the next two weeks with a longer training run in the morning, a shorter run in the afternoon and then wrapping up each day with strength training. Pre-season training will end on August 30 with the annual Alumni Meet taking place on campus in the Arboretum at 9:30 am.