Another Cyclone fall sports season approaches us, another cause for optimism from the Daily sportswriters about the football season.

This is going to be the season the Cyclones go to a bowl game. This is going to be the season the Cyclones finally beat the hated Hawkeyes. This is going to be the season that the triple-option offense solves all of our offensive as well as defensive problems. Oops, wrong season, I’m sorry. No more mention of the infamous triple-option offense after this column, thank God.

This week I am going to do things a little bit differently.

Not that I don’t think that there should be cause for optimism in the Iowa State football program. I just think it is going to take some time. There will be plenty of time to comment on the progress the Iowa State football team is going to make once the season begins.

I am going to devote the majority of my writing to two Iowa State athletic programs that, year after year, are considered the premier programs in the nation.

I’m talking about the Cyclone men’s and women’s cross country programs.

Please don’t turn the page.

There is a lot of exciting news about both programs this year, and I think it is about time someone gave them some credit.

I know what you’re thinking. What’s so exciting about cross country?

One thing that makes cross country exciting is the fact that you attend Iowa State University.

You are probably thinking, “Why does going to Iowa State make cross country exciting?”

Not too many people realize this, but what Nebraska and UCLA are to football and basketball — Iowa State is to men’s cross country.

Not only is the Cyclone men’s cross country team defending NCAA champs, but they have also finished in the top-three positions in the national championships every year for the past five years.

The Cyclone women’s cross country team is a program on the rise. The ISU women have plenty of young runners who are looking to take the Cyclones to the top.

Another BIG reason that Cyclone cross country is exciting this season is because the NCAA Championships are going to be held in our own backyard. The NCAA Championships are scheduled for November 20, at the new on-campus cross country course.

Not many people on campus realize this yet, but not only are we the only the college or university in the nation to have our own cross country course, but it is also for the most part within walking distance from almost anywhere on campus. The new course is directly west of the Towers.

Those of you who are curious to see what a major intercollegiate cross country meet is all about are encouraged to attend the ISU Classic on October 14 at the new course. Most of the top programs in the nation will be there, and the finish is almost guaranteed to go to the wire.

I contacted Dick Lee, women’s cross country head coach, on why anyone would want to attend a cross country meet.

Coach Lee described cross country as an “acquired taste.”

That makes cross country a lot like one of my favorite recreational activities, beer drinking. Most college students don’t walk away from their first experience with beer thinking it was the most enjoyable thing they had ever done. But after the second or third time most people come to a better understanding of the finer points of beer drinking.

Hopefully, after two or three meets they will come to appreciate the finer points of cross country.

Bill Kopatich is a sophomore in journalism from Des Moines.