Alice Lloyd Cross Country Season Preview

Coach Brandon Arnold of the Alice Lloyd College Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams has watched his runners succeed over the last few seasons.  Seeing the teams grow since he took over the program means a lot to Coach Arnold.  “We started with three runners back in 2015, and now we have 26 runners in the program,” he says. “We recruit great kids. Watching them grow means more to me than any success we’ve had, and we’ve had a lot of success.”

Last year, the Lady Eagles finished runner up at the NCCAA DII National Championship. Although they have lost two All-American athletes (Brittney Buttrey and Kacey Troutt) from that squad, Coach Arnold is not worried. He says, “While it is a huge loss, I believe we have some returners that can step up and fill in their shoes.”

 Rachel McCoy finished one spot away from All-American last year. The senior is dealing with a leg injury right now, but is expected to be back soon.  The coach is also sure that key returners, Morgan Arthur and Brooke Vanover, will be able to step up as well.

Coach Arnold has an impressive class of freshmen this year, and he notes that they have been “adjusting well” to the training.  He believes that they will have a huge impact on the team, and that he has the makings of a great women’s team.  He says that they have, “A real shot at winning the NCCAA Championship.” 

While he also realizes that all the pieces must come together just right for that to happen, he stresses that if the team can avoid the injury bug, then this group can be a true “championship contender.”

The men’s team is also coming off a successful season; however, they will also be missing two prime team members, Ryan Morris and Noah Stevenson, who both have elected to red-shirt.  Morris was an All-American last year, and Stevenson was consistently in the top three and four spots in races.  Coach Arnold hopes that this move will, “grow our team (specifically this year’s freshmen and sophomores) and also help to develop Ryan and Noah even more.  We don’t have any juniors this year, and I wanted to give our seniors a chance to really go after a championship next year.”  He was quick to add that the squad still has a chance this season to make a serious run at the championship, but that this move should help the team in the long run by making them an even stronger unit in 2020.

Coach Arnold has a good group of freshman men this year as well, and he has been very excited and pleased with how they are performing.  He has a few that are a little inexperienced, but he believes that they are handling it well and are up to the task.  “The main thing for the freshman men is learning how to run the 8k (since high school teams usually only run a 5k distance).” he said.  However, he is confident that they will also make a huge impact on the team this year.

When asked his goals for this year, the successful coach stated the desire to get better each week in order to improve as a team but also as individuals. He plans to motivate the runners to see how far they can go.  Coach Arnold says that they will, “Obviously try to win every meet, including a championship. We are willing to put in the work to compete at a high level.”