2008-09 Cross Country Season The 2008 Cross Country season will get underway this coming Saturday for the Wheeling Jesuit University Cardinals. The Cardinals will travel to Duquesne University for the annual Duquesne Duals. Action gets underway at 9 a.m. with the women’s 5k followed by the men’s 8k at 9:30 a.m. With the new season brings big expectations for the Cardinal Harriers. Both the men’s and women’s teams are very young with only 3 seniors on the rosters for this season, but both squads are loaded with talented athletes. It will be very exciting to see how the season will unfold for the talented young teams. Head coach Ricky Moore, in his second full year as the Head Cross Country/ Track & Field Coach, is excited about the possibilities that lay ahead. “I am very curious and excited to see what this season will bring for both teams,” Moore stated. “The women’s team is really quite talented, and returns a great nucleus from last year. The men’s team is equally as talented, and returns a good core from last season. However both teams are still young in terms of colligate experience and they will have to overcome that inexperience in their quest for conference titles.” Leading the way for the women will be Senior Erika Rucker and Sophomore Sarah Campanelli. Rucker, who was the WVIAC 1500 meter champion in 2007 and finished 11th at last years’ WVIAC XC Championships, looks poised to make a run at the conference individual title. Campanelli, who had an unbelievable freshman campaign for the Cardinals, is also seeking that individual title. Campanelli racked up numerous honors last season including a 3rd place at the WVIAC Conference Championships, hit NCAA Provisional marks in the 800 meters and the 1500 meters, won the individual titles in both of those events at the 2008 WVIAC conference championships and set several WJU records on the track.  Also up front for the Lady Cards will be Juniors Kasey Jividen and Julia McGinley. Jividen was an ALL-WVIAC performer for the Lady Cards last season and looks ready to make a run at the top five. Senior Amanda Reyher and her freshman sister, Chelsea Reyher will be seeking top five spots on the Cardinal squad and hope to break into the top 20 at the WVIAC meet. Incoming freshmen Katyln McCullom and Maria Sauk will round out the Lady Cards team this season. “I am very encouraged by the women’s team this season, they are a small group but they are very close and they have been working very hard all summer,” Moore stated during preseason. “I think that if we can get our 4 and 5 runners into the top 15 –18 we should be pretty tough to beat at the WVIAC meet.”    The men’s side is a little bit more jumbled and hard to sort out.  The Cardinals will be lead by redshirt Sophomore Scott Bonnette. Bonnette was the 2006 WVIAC Rookie of the Year and had a great spring track season. However, the 2007 WVIAC Rookie of the Year, Dustin Hall will also be vying for the top spot. Hall was the WVIAC 5000 meter champion in the spring and was 4th during the fall cross country season. Like the Lady Cards the men’s team will need the pack to step up and close the gap between them and the two front runners. It will be an interesting year to see exactly who will step up to compete for the top five scoring spots. Vying for those spots is a pack of 5 freshmen and sophomores. Leading the charge is Stewart Jones, a highly decorated freshman from West Virginia who has the ability and talent to be the Cardinals top runner at the end of the season. Also seeking those spots are freshmen Adam Carter and Trey Stoller, along with Sophomores Jobey Knapton and Chad Henson. Vying for the other Varsity spots will be Senior David Kozusnik and Juniors David Bowman and Steven Buck. According to Moore, “We have a talented young group on the men’s side and most of the returnees are coming off of great spring track seasons. Hopefully the success that they had on the track will carry over to the cross country course.” Moore also stated that, “I would not count the freshmen out either; they have been working extremely hard and look to be really fit.”