The 2014 University of Dayton men's cross country team continued its tradition of competitive running and solidified a foundation which should bring a continuance of good results in the future.
Some combination of the program's five sophomores
Hunter Johnston,
Alex Kuvin,
Kyle Lach,
Ethan Louis and
Michael Tymoski regularly placed in the Flyers' top five, along with senior team leader
Michael Russell. In addition, freshman walk-on
Tyler Adgalanis impressed early on in the season, winning two consecutive Atlantic 10 Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Week honors.
The Flyers improved on their total team time in every single one of their eight meets throughout the season.
The team alternated between third and fourth-place finishes throughout the first five races of the season, beginning with a fourth-place showing at the traditional Flyer 5K season opener, the Flyers' only home meet of the season. The top four Dayton runners all finished in the overall top 25, led by Lach's 15th-place finish of 16:13.50. The Flyers' fifth finisher,
Alex Kuvin, placed 26th.
The Flyers then traveled to Mason, Ohio, for the Queen City Invitational, the second and last 5K race of the season. They posted an impressive third place finish, beating out teams such as Xavier and Cincinnati. Russell led the way, finishing ninth overall with a time of 15:47.77.
Next up was the National Catholic Invitational 8K hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The squad was split for that weekend, with half of the team going to South Bend, and the other half competing in the Friendship Invitational in Cedarville, Ohio.
Establishing a pattern, Dayton finished fourth at National Catholic amongst 11 fellow Catholic institutions. The Flyers finished just one point and five seconds behind third-place finisher Saint Louis. Russell once again paced the Flyers, finishing 17th overall behind a time of 25:38.70 in the first 8K race of the season.
The other Flyers squad finished third at the Friendship Invitational 8K, with all five runners placing in the top 30. That group was led by junior
Maxwell Roeske, who finished ninth with a time of 26:32.74. Freshman
Tom Clark was not far behind, finishing 10th with a time of 26:40.09.
Two weeks later, the whole team returned to Cedarville for the All-Ohio championships, which features some of the best Division I cross country programs in Ohio. The Flyers finished fourth, beating in-state foes Bowling Green and Kent State. The team was consistent once again, with all five scoring runners finishing in the top 25, with Russell once again leading the way with a time of 25:18.06, his second ninth place finish of the season.
The Flyers' last regular season meet of 2014 was held in Peoria, Ill., and hosted by Bradley University. Dayton finished 12th out of 26 teams, and Tymoski led the way, finishing 41st with a time of 25:35.60.
The postseason commenced with the Atlantic 10 Championship, held in Pittsburgh and hosted by Duquesne. Dayton finished 8th out of the conference's 14 teams. Lach was the Flyers' top finisher, coming in 31st overall with a time of 25:35.60.
To end the year, Dayton competed in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional 10K meet in Madison, Wisc. The Flyers finished 22nd out of 30 teams, and Russell finished his last race on top, leading his team and placing 98th overall with a time of 32:12. However, Dayton was one of only four teams whose top five runners all finished within 30 seconds of each other. The other three teams finished in the top three of the meet.
The Flyers will return eleven upperclassmen for the 2015 season, and seven runners who hold a place on the Harrier Heroes list, a ranking of the program's top 35 8K personal bests. Rising sophomore Adgalanis, the five sophomores (now rising juniors) and rising senior Matt Krakora are all on the list. Those accomplishments and the consistently improving team performance shown in 2014 bode well for the 2015 season.
Written by Daniel Massa, University of Dayton Athletics Communication Student- Class of 2016
