KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Young and inexperienced may be an understatement for Western Michigan University's women's cross country team this season.

Head coach Kevin Cataldo smiles when thinking about his roster of 16, 10 of which are either freshmen or sophomores.

''I'd rather be an underdog and take our shots,'' he said. ''We're not going to stray away from who we are as people and as a program, but we're going to take it one race at a time, learn from each race, make adjustments and by the time we get to the Mid-American Conference championship, we're going to have the best versions of ourselves out there.''

The Broncos lost to graduation two All-MAC runners from the 2023 meet, Danielle Rinn and Kayla Schiera.

''We had three sixth-year runners and one fifth-year and that's hard to replace,'' Cataldo said. ''In the first practice, I'm looking around saying, 'Where are they?' and it's tough to come back from those losses.

''But I feel like it's a new group, and when someone leaves, someone steps up. I try to recruit people who aren't afraid to move up to the front, that aren't afraid to put themselves in a position to be successful.''

One of those is redshirt freshman Lillian Zelasko, who didn't run last season but can't wait to get out there this season. The season begins on Friday with the Winrow Valparaiso Open. The next meet is the George Dales Invitational to be held at The Prairies Golf Course in Kalamazoo on Sept. 20. The MAC Championship run will be hosted by Ball State.

''I missed running cross country last year,'' Zelasko said. ''I missed running on the grass (instead of the track).

''I like being outside on the grass, and in cross country, you can throw out the times because all the courses are different. On the track, it's all about the times. And running on the grass is sure easier on the joints.''

Zelasko did run track in last season's MAC meet, finishing ninth in the 10k with a personal best of 35:33.48. She knows her cross country, too, having been a two-time Indiana All-State runner.

She has goals for this season, one of which is easy to understand.

''For one, I just want to run a cross country season,'' she said. ''I'm excited to see what I can do at the MAC meet this year against the stronger cross country runners.

''I'm hoping to be among the top 20 runners, so we'll see how that goes. I definitely want to step up and help our team. Our team is young and that can be a good thing because we're the underdogs and I feel as a team we want to unite. We want to show up at the conference meet and surprise people.''

The only returner from last season with MAC meet experience is fifth-year senior Brooke Soper who finished 55th. WMU finished seventh.

''Our first meet is more of a scrimmage and I'm holding out a few runners,'' Cataldo said. ''We want to get the spikes back on the grass for a lot of the runners, to feel what it's like to run on an uneven surface, to run in a crowd of people and to run between the 5k and 10k distances because those are two distances we run in track.''

For example, the Valpo meet is a 5k and the home meet will be at the 6k distance.

''I feel like right now, there is too much of an unknown and they are all close in times, which, for a cross country coach, is good,'' Cataldo said. ''I don't know who numbers 1 through 12 will be and I feel on any given day, it will shuffle around.

''I feel this is a good place to be in.''

There are Lily Overton, a sophomore who transferred from Iona; Lara Machado Pereira, a freshman from Portugal who ran in her country's national championship race about a month ago; freshman, Ava Kurczewski ''has done well so far,'' the coach said, and Valparaiso senior transfer Grace Aurand.

As for the returners who have looked good in preseason, the coach brings up sophomores Madison Clor and Larissa McGrath, juniors Lauren Sancrant and Madison Zarembski and senior Delaney Knoll. And there will be more who could step up, he said.

''For the MAC, I want to finish in the top six teams,'' Cataldo said. ''If we could finish in the top half, it would give us good experience and something to build on for the following years.''