In a sport where consistency is difficult to achieve, redshirt senior Tyler Jermann continues to provide steady outings for the men’s cross country team.

After injuries slowed his first three years of progress at Iowa State, Jermann has carved out a key leadership role on a team loaded with freshmen and sophomores.

“The biggest thing Tyler’s brought to the table is his experience,” said ISU assistant coach Jeremy Sudbury. “With a young team and having a few  seniors, those young guys look up to the older guys for some confidence. Tyler’s the backbone, the heart of the team that really holds down the fate of the program.”

Jermann credits his recent success to second-year head coach Martin Smith’s focus on keeping his runners healthy and consistent. Jermann said he was running too many miles during his first three years, which spurred the injury issues.

Smith and Sudbury’s ability to keep Jermann out on the course has led to spike in performance for Jermann over the past two seasons.

“Coach Smith found out how to keep me healthy and keep me from really pushing it to the limits,” Jermann said. “Left to my own devices, I usually push it harder than I should.”

Jermann has competed in all three ISU cross country events this season. He finished first for the team and third overall on Aug. 29 at the Bulldog Classic. On Sept. 27, at the Roy Griak Invitational, Jermann finished 59th overall.

In his most recent event at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational, Jermann was disappointed with his result but said it was a great learning experience for the team in preparation for the postseason.

“Wisconsin didn’t really go as well for me, but the biggest strength of our team is the fact that we have depth,” Jermann said. “If someone has a bad day like I did at Wisconsin, there’s a lot of room for other guys to fill in and still recover.”

Jermann has found his role as one of the middle runners for the team this season, and Sudbury said the three, four and five positions are sometimes more important than the first and second positions on the team.

“All the points in the middle are either made up or they’re lost because it’s so close time wise,” Sudbury said. “One second can separate five guys and ten seconds can separate 20 or 30 guys in a race. Tyler brings that consistent, levelheaded, he’s been there before and gives the guys some confidence moving forward.”

Jermann will be competing in his final few events of his cross country career at Iowa State over the next month. The team will rely on his consistency to help secure a bid to the NCAA Championships.

“Everybody wants to be the hero, they want to hit the home run,” Sudbury said. “Quite truthfully, cross country races are made and won by guys who stayed even, consistent and put in the work.”