Cross country is a sport that requires an athletic endeavor of mental focus and consistency from its athletes. Failing to keep one’s pace and falling behind could cost their team in a crucial, and sometimes critical, fashion.

“It’s an interesting sport in the sense that our national championship boils down to one race,” said Corey Ihmels, who is going into his seventh year as head coach at Iowa State. “You can run badly all year, but if you run well on the last day, you can be the national champion. So I think it’s unique in that sense, where your record really doesn’t play into it too much.”

Last year, then-junior Guor Marial led the Cyclone men, finishing sixth overall on the 8,000-meter course in 24:15.33 at the Big 12 Championships in Ames. The men finished third overall, trailing Colorado by only one point.

“Losing [by] one point, that was a bad experience,” Marial said. “We’re looking forward and we just hope that everyone is healthy and prepares well, then we should be able to get that one-point loss back.”

Following Marial, then-senior Kiel Uhl placed seventh overall, finishing only five seconds behind Marial’s time. Then-sophomore Hillary Bor finished 11th overall with a time of 24:39.78, with then-freshman duo Rico Loy and Joey Limo finishing 21st and 22nd, sharing a time of 25:05.83 to round off the scoring for the Cyclone men. Loy and Limo finished just one second behind Colorado’s Seth Demoor, ultimately costing the Cyclones second place in the meet.

“Colorado has been a perennial power in cross country in the nation, and to come within one point of beating them on our home course was kind of tough to swallow,” Ihmels said. “It gave me an opportunity as a coach to have a teachable moment and say ‘every person counts and every point counts.’ It was really close, but we didn’t get it done and next time when we get that close in the race, hopefully we’ll come out on the other side.”

The women finished ninth overall at the Big 12 Championships. Then-freshmen Meaghen Nelson and Dani Stack finished as the one-two punch for the Cyclone women, with times differing by only two seconds.

At the NCAA Regional meet in Stillwater, Okla., Marial continued defining his crucial role for the Cyclones by leading the men to a fourth-place finish. Marial finished the 10,000-meter course eighth overall with a time of 31:21. Uhl finished twelfth overall, finishing only nine seconds behind Marial’s pace. Bor followed, finishing thirteenth overall with a time of 31:32. Oklahoma State, the host of the meet, finished first in both the Big 12 Championship and the NCAA Regional meets.

Marial finished the season strong in the NCAA Championship meet, ending up 38th overall in the 252-runner field at Terre Haute, Ind. He finished the 10,000-meter course with an improved time of 30:12.30, earning All-American honors. The Cyclones finished 17th overall.

“We’re really excited about how Guor finished the season last year,” Ihmels said. “He kind of battled a few injuries in the outdoor track season, but he took some time off early in the summer and he’s been training really well. I think he’s going to have a tremendous year.”

Senior Lisa Koll plans on returning to the cross country team after choosing to sit out last year for personal reasons. Koll is expected to help give a boost to team morale, as well as provide her exceptional athletic ability to help lift the Cyclone women from the bottom of the Big 12.

“I think, if anything, missing cross [country] last year was a positive thing for me because we’re going to have a really good team support this year,” Koll said, “After missing last year, I realized how much I love racing. I love training, but things were so different when I wasn’t racing. So I’ve kind of built that fire back up. I’m really confident in where I’m at and where this season will take me.”

Ihmels’ recruiting system has become a global procedure, branching out to numerous countries to get some of the best young talent to run in the cardinal and gold for Iowa State. In terms of international athletes on the team, the Cyclones boast quite a few from the African nations of Kenya and Eritrea, as well as two from Germany.

“We try and get the best athletes we can,” Ihmels said. “And we’ll go all over the world to find them.”

The cross country team starts its season at the Drake Fall Classic on Sept. 4 in Des Moines, and will continue with the ISU Open Sept. 19 in Ames.

“I’m excited about where we’re at,” Ihmels said. “We’re maybe a little behind from where we were last year, but I think that’s a good thing. We want to be ready to go at the end, so we’re in a good spot.”