- All-American Kayden Spencer is the top returner from last season
- Sophomores Grace Collins and Tori Yunggebauer also return
- Top incoming freshman is Jaycie Vohs
The DMACC women's cross country team begins the 2024 season in the Bill Buxton Invitational August 30 at Indianola.
The Bears are coming off a fifth-place finish in the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II Women's National Championships and return three key runners from that team in sophomores Kayden Spencer of Boone, Grace Collins of Johnston and Tori Yunggebauer of Williamsburg.
Spencer earned All-American honors with a 15th-place finish in the 2024 NJCAA national championships and Collins and Yunggebauer finished 21st and 30th respectively.
"We should compete for one of the top three sports (at the national championships)," DMACC women's cross country coach Michael Melchert said. "Everyone is healthy and looking good so we'll see where we're at (in the Bill Buxton Invitational) and go from there."
Freshman Jaycie Vohs of Galva and sophomore Abigail Harding of Iowa Falls are expected to round out the top five runners for the Bears. Vohs finished 36th in the 2023 Class 2A Iowa High School Cross Country Championships. Harding attended DMACC as a freshman but did not compete in cross country so has two years of eligibility ahead of her.
Rounding out the roster are freshmen Ava Manning of Des Moines and Dakota Tromblay of Ogden.
Melchert said all seven will compete in every meet with the top five finishers scoring points in the team standings.
"(Manning and Tromblay) will probably be our sixth and seventh runners," Melchert said. "Dakota has done a great job in practice. She has really improved a lot"
Following the Bill Buxton Invitational the DMACC women's cross country team will compete in the Trent Smith Invitational on Sept. 13 and two other meets leading up to the NJCAA Region 11 Championships on Oct. 25.