KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan cross country team is set to compete in the Joe Piane Invitational on Friday afternoon in South Bend, Ind. The Broncos will hit the course at 12:45 p.m. with 17 other teams in the race.
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos' last race came back on Sept. 15, as the team took part in the Mel Brodt Collegiate Open, hosted by Bowling Green. At that meet, the Brown and Gold had a strong showing, placing sixth overall. Individually,
Danielle Rinn made her WMU debut and placed 10th with a time of 21:38.11.
Chloe Nixon and
Brooke Soper also placed in the top 35, with Nixon grabbing 31st (22:29.75) and Soper taking 34th (22:37.58). In total, the Broncos had six runners finish in the top 50.
LAST YEAR'S EVENT
Western Michigan finished 10th in last year's event, placing higher than a couple other MAC teams, including Akron and Buffalo. The team winner in last year's meet was Nebraska, while Cal Poly, Montana State, Pittsburgh and UC Riverside rounded out the top five. Individually,
Kayla Schiera finished eighth at the event with a time of 17:11.5. She will again be participating for the Broncos in this year's meet.
REGIONALLY RANKED
The Broncos have had a strong start to the season thus far, and that hasn't gone unnoticed. In the latest United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association regional rankings, Western Michigan checked in at No. 15 after being unranked the week before. WMU is one of seven Mid-American Conference teams to be ranked in the region.
CATALDO NAMED HEAD COACH
After originally coming to Western Michigan as an assistant coach for the cross country and track and field program,
Kevin Cataldo was selected as the head coach on May 10, 2023. Cataldo joined the Broncos as an assistant coach in March 2022, after serving in the same position at Southern Illinois for six seasons. He was then elevated to interim head coach in August of 2022.
During his first year with the program, the cross country team finished fifth at the MAC Championships. It was the first time in program history that the program had two first team all-MAC performers.
Makayla Perez finished fifth and
Kayla Schiera placed seventh at the conference meet. The program also tied the second highest finish in program history at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet (13th). Additionally it was the first time the squad had an All-Region athlete (
Makayla Perez) since Hanne Christensen in 2017.
WHO'S RUNNING?
The Broncos will have close to a full squad when they take the course on Friday afternoon. Running for WMU will be
Danielle Rinn,
Kayla Schiera,
Chloe Nixon,
Madison Clor,
Delaney Knoll,
Katelyn Spooner,
Madison Zarembski,
Maggie Raab,
Lauren Sancrant,
Larissa McGrath and
Rebekah Asselin.
Schiera, Spooner and Raab will be making their season debuts, while Rinn is coming off of a top-10 finish at the Mel Brodt Collegiate Open a couple weeks ago.
UP NEXT
WMU will conclude its regular season with a trip to the Bradley Pink Classic on Oct 13. The meet will start at 2:30 p.m. ET in Peoria, Ill.
