The men’s cross country team has been slowly improving since coach Corey Ihmels arrived at the end of the 2001 season. This year they seem poised to have a breakout year.

The Cyclones only lose David Rotich from last year’s team.

“[Rotich] was our consistent number three or four guy,” Ihmels said. “He did a great job for us and he will be a big loss, but I think we have a newcomer that can fill that role, and we have some redshirt freshmen that are going to have to step up.”

But who will step up and fill that role? Ihmels thinks one freshman seems poised to take that open spot.

“I think one newcomer that stands out above the rest is Hillary Bor, from Kenya,” Ihmels said. “He is going to have to be an immediate impact guy and I think he has the ability and potential to do that.”

Bor, however, will have to earn that spot, because there are several other runners working to make the team’s lineup.

The Cyclones return the core of their team from last year. Leading the way will be junior Kiel Uhl, the team’s No. 1 runner from last year who placed 121st at Nationals in November.

Supporting Uhl will be sophomore Guor Majak and junior Kevin Born, who placed 14th and 31st in last year’s Big 12 meet respectively.

However, the Cyclones only managed a fifth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships, a result they hope to improve on with this season.

“Last year we were very disappointed with our performance, so that motivated me to train at a higher level so we can do better as a team this season,” Majak said.

With this strong core returning and promising new talent joining the team, expectations for the Cyclones are high, especially among themselves.

“Everyone is really strong on this year’s team,” Bor said. “Everyone can win. I think we can win the conference.”

The players’ goals seem to be an expectation for coach Ihmels this season.

“We are at a point with the program that we need to get to Nationals and we need to do well at the Big 12 meet,” Ihmels said. “I think those are our goals, and I think we had some guys have great training this summer and I think we are really ready to make the move forward.”

The team feels they have been working hard to reach these lofty goals during the offseason, training harder than ever before.

“We are a hard-working and dedicated group of guys,” Majak said. “We are all working on one goal. The guys are all hard workers. I can see that all the guys want to do better.”

They have, however, worked hard in the past. This year’s team seems to be special in their team unity, Bor said.

“One thing I like about the team is everyone is united,” Bor said. “It is a kind of friendship. We do everything as a team.”

This is an especially good sign for Ihmels, who claims he’s been preaching team unity since coming to Iowa State and sees it is now catching on.

“I think we really have a group that is committed to each other,” Ihmels said. “That is something we have always tried to preach. We just had our team camp and I think this group is committed to doing everything for each other. Both on and off the field, they want to see things move forward and want to do it for each other.”

Ihmels said that commitment has him excited for the upcoming year.

“That’s something we haven’t really had in the past,” he said. “I think we have finally gotten to the point in the program where they understand that and they have put the work in this summer to make that happen.”