- Sophomores Jordan King and Will Thompson will provide leadership
- Key newcomers are transfers Owen Almelien and Pat Heffernan
- Incoming freshmen expected to make major contributions
The DMACC men's cross country team will begin the 2024 season in the Bill Buxton Invitational August 30 at Indianola.
The Bears are coming off an 11th-place finish in the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division !! Men's Cross Country Championships and have the potential to be even better this fall.
"We're ready to get going," said DMACC men's golf coach Michael Melchert. "(Sophomores Jordan King of Ogden and Will Thompson of Clive) will be big contributors in our top seven and we'll have some freshmen contributors. Transfers Owen Almelien of Greene and Pat Heffernan of Dunlap will mix it up in our top seven as well."
King led the Bears to 11th place in the 2023 NJCAA national championship with a 58th-place finish and Thompson wasn't far behind at 63rd. Both improved their positions throughout the 8K race.
With the two sophomores all but set to be among the team's top five runners, Melchert is looking at Almelien and Heffernan to also fill out two positions in the top five with freshmen Elijah Blix of Vinton, Eli Page of Vinton and Zach Stoermer of Des Moines among candidates to fill out the top seven.
Other team members include sophomore Eli Bergman of Hoffman, Minn., freshman Caden Brown of Muscatine, sophomore Grant Harrison of Des Moines, sophomore Jake Hitchcock of Johnston, freshman Hunter Landphair of Adel and freshman Daniel Schoening of Ankeny.
DMACC will compete in four meets this fall leading up to the NJCAA Region 11 Championships on Oct. 25 and Melchert said every member of the team will run in the four meets with the top five finishers scoring points in the team competition.
"I think we should definitely be a top five team at (the NJCAA national championship)," Melchert said. "This is the first time since I've been here that we have a ton of depth."
Melchert said his team is running from 55 to 75 miles a week in preparation for the upcoming season. He said he expects those distances to continue during the season.
Following the Bill Buxton Invitational, the DMACC men's cross country team will compete in the Trent Smith Invitational Sept. 13 at Mason City.