With a solid group of returning letterwinners mixed in with an impressive freshman class, ISU women’s cross country coach Dick Lee is anticipating the upcoming season. The Cyclones make their season debut Sept. 16 hosting the ISU Open. The Cyclones return five of their top seven runners from last season, as Alienor Gilchrist and Emily Martini graduated. “We’re looking forward to the year. We have a strong returning group of letterwinners as well as some strong newcomers that can step in and help us,” Lee said. “We lost two runners, but in cross country, you’re always in transition. You’re always losing people in the top seven and you plug new people in to take their spots,” he said. The Iowa State Cross Country Course hosts the NCAA championships on November 20, and Lee feels it gives his team something to shoot for. “This is an exciting year with us hosting nationals. That’s definitely one of our primary goals, to run at nationals on our home course,” said Lee. The Cyclones return three seniors in Andrea Crapisi, Laurie Meythaler and Gayle Nugent. Crapisi was the Cyclones top finishers in most of the races last season and finished 30th at a NCAA Midwest Regional. While the three seniors provide leadership, the job of leading the pack on the course could be up for grabs. “It’s hard to predict who our front runners will be. With this group, we may have different kids assume that role of front runner of the pack and that’s a good situation to be in. It’s not really a big deal to the girls,” Lee said. Lee is also expecting big things from three sophomores, Jessica Huff, Ashley Drahn and Kelly Brinkman, who gained valuable experience as freshmen. “We have three underclassmen that are going to step up. They got used to running at the collegiate level last year and having that year of experience makes a huge difference. They’re so far ahead of last year,” Lee said. One newcomer that has drawn praise from Lee, is freshman Monica Erickson. Erickson comes to Iowa State after a stellar prep career in Nebraska. “Monica Erickson is our top freshman, and she has the ability to step in and help us out in the top five. She was probably the best long distance runner in the state of Nebraska her senior year in high school,” Lee said. While it’s hard to predict at the beginning of the season how things are going to go, Lee is keeping his fingers crossed about his team’s health. Last season the Cyclones started out strong, but illness hit the team. The Cyclones then struggled down the stretch run of the season. “We were running well last season until we had three kids get the flu and that killed us for the rest of the season. Knock on wood, but if we can stay healthy through the year then we definitely have a group of girls that have a great shot of running well at the conference meet,” Lee said. At last season’s Big 12 conference meet, the Cyclones finished eighth as Crapisi was the leading finisher at 23rd. Colorado won the Big 12 title. “I think we can be in the top four in the conference if we’re running well at the end of the year. Colorado won last year, and they will be among the top teams with Kansas State,” Lee said. “It’s hard to predict though because nobody has raced yet. It’s hard to judge teams until they get a couple of meets under their belt. That gives you a better idea about the competition and what their strengths are,” he said. Check out the ISU women’s cross country 2000 schedule.