The Kalamazoo College men's and women's cross country teams hope to continue building in 2015 after the first full year under the direction of Head Coach Kristopher Koster.
Heading into last season, Koster knew the team was willing to work hard and strive to be the competitive program it was in the 1990s and early 2000s.
"I found out right away that people on the team wanted to have a better team," he said. "I knew there was a history and that our team wanted to get back to that level."
Leading the way last season for the men was Jordan Henning, who placed higher than any other K runner in every race and returns for his senior season in 2015. Henning recorded his best finish of the year in the first meet of the season at the Calvin Knight Invitational where he crossed the line in 8th place and recorded a time of 25:50.
Henning is one of six seniors returning to the men's side in 2015. Rising sophomore Connor Vogt also joins the returning seniors along with freshmen Merrick Richardson and Noah Yared.
On the women's side, the team ended the 2014 season on a high note finishing ahead of Olivet at the Great Lakes Regional Championships.
Going forward, the team does have some large shoes to fill as Emily Sklar '15, the team's top runner in 2014, graduated. The top five runners for the Hornets in 2014 either graduated or are on study abroad for the upcoming season. Koster hopes a freshmen class of five runners along with a large group of nine returning runners will continue to propel the program forward.
Koster knows his team and program can continue to improve each year based on the personalities currently within the program.
He said, "People that can get into this school and succeed academically, those are the types of people that are going to work hard and make sacrifices in whatever they do.
"Everybody this year seems to be training a lot more seriously than they were going into last year. I was able to encourage them this summer and help them reach their goals."