BEREA, OHIO -- The 2014 Baldwin Wallace University men's and women's cross country teams will look to continue its rebuilding this fall as veteran Head Coach Dr. Bill Taraschke begins his 29th year in Berea. Taraschke is hoping the best performances occur at the All-Ohio, Ohio Athletic Conference and NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Meets.
"Our goal is to get better every day," said Taraschke who has led BW to some 40 OAC championships in men's and women's cross country and track. "We are still very young but have a veteran flavor. We will look to our juniors and seniors to be the leaders. If each student-athlete and runner can fully concentrate on daily improvement, we have an opportunity to be better."
Last year, the Yellow Jacket women finished sixth and the men eighth at the 2013 Ohio Athletic Conference Meet. The women were 13th and men 14th at the All-Ohio Meet, and the women were 22nd and men 29th at the Great Lakes Regional.
The goal is to be better this year and Taraschke's two teams have the ingredients to be better. The women return five of the top seven runners (ran at the GL Region Meet in 2013) and the men have four of seven.
The women will be led by All-OAC junior Kali Fittro (Tiffin/ Columbian) who finished 12th at the last year's OAC Championship Meet and 65th at the regional. She also is an outstanding student and athlete who earned Academic All-OAC honors in both cross country and track a year ago.
Joining Fittro as one of the top seven from 2013 are senior Dusica Vasic (Cleveland/ Brecksville-Broadview Heights), juniors Alyssa Nieset (Geneva) and Molly Rehor (Fairview Park) and sophomore Alivia Stephan (Carey). Vasic was 86th at the OAC Meet and 172nd at the Regional.
Taraschke also will welcome back juniors Lauren Fredrickson (Hamburg, N.Y./ Hamburg) and Abbey Snow (Massillon/ Jackson) as well as newcomers in senior Brittany Kimble-Walker (Detroit, Mich./ Cass Tech) and sophomores Emily Gruber (Ashland) and Sydney Stone (Fairbanks, Alaska/ Lathrop), and freshmen Jacquelyn Brown (Tallmadge), Maeve Christie (Lakewood) and Bailee D'Amore (McDonald). Snow earned Academic All-OAC accolades in track last spring. Stone, who did not run last year as a freshman, will be sidelined this fall with a broken foot.
"Kali is a strong number one runner," said Taraschke. "We also will need the other ladies to all continue to improve to us to improve our standing at this year's All-Ohio, OAC and regional meets.
"We feel that Dusica also will be solid," continued Taraschke. "Alyssa and Molly will be consistent, Abbey could be a bit of a surprise since she's such a good all-around athlete and Maeve could be our best freshman. We also have some other runners who could help us from the standpoint of depth."
The men and women open the season on Friday, August 30 when they travel to Wooster, Ohio to compete at the Annual Wooster Season-Opener. The men's and women will compete in both a 5K and 4-mile race that are run separately. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. The OAC Championship Meet is on Saturday, November 1 and hosted by John Carroll University.
