Hopes soaring for Central men’s cross country team
PELLA—Six of last year’s top seven runners are back. Two NCAA Division III meet qualifiers return. And a talent-laden freshman class has arrived.
It all has hopes soaring for the Central College men’s cross country team.
Caleb Silver (5th-year, Conrad, BCLUW HS) and Noah Jorgenson (senior, Sidney) both competed in the national meet at East Lansing, Michigan last November, with Silver finishing 25th to secure all-America distinction. But the Dutch were battered by some late-season injuries and illness that left them fourth at the American Rivers meet before getting a determined effort at the NCAA Midwest Regional where they clawed their way to a respectable seventh-place finish in a 32-team field.
Coach Joe Dunham is eager for Silver and Jorgenson to make a return NCAA trip—and to bring teammates with them. The Dutch have cracked the national rankings, opening 2023 in 30th in the U.S Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s Division III poll.
“I would love for our team to qualify and I really think we’re capable of that,” he said. “Our region is really tough. We’ve got Wartburg, we’ve got Loras, we’ve got (Washington-St. Louis), we’ve got North Central (Ill.), we’ve got Simpson. At the end of the day, we’ve got to beat one of those teams. We can’t be sixth, we’ve got to be fifth or better to even have a chance (of being selected).
But in last year’s injury-plagued finish Dunham saw a need for reinforcements and Central appears to have secured some help from newcomers.
“It’s a deep freshman class that will really be able to provide some stability for our team,” he said. “We saw what happened last year when we had injuries and an illness. We did not have the depth that we needed to really be able to perform at a high level, although I have to say that our men really stepped up at the regional meet or it could have been a lot worse. We had guys come in and run really well.”
Jorgenson was Central’s top runner most of the season and gained all-conference distinction by placing 10th at the league meet while Silver finished 22nd and Adam Sylvia (5th-year, Rochester, Mass., Old Rochester HS) was 25th. But in a deeper regional field, Jorgenson surged to eighth and Silver climbed to 13th to secure NCAA berths, although Sylvia was sidelined by illness. Dunham is counting on big things from that trio this year.
“We’ve got a great group of leaders in those three along with some other great returners,” he said.
Kenny Cronin (junior, Des Moines, Davis County HS) was injured late in the year but is capable of cracking the lead pack as well.
“Kenny was our number one runner at the pre-regional (Aurora Invitational) last year and has got great potential,” Dunham said.
“Ben DeValk (junior, Solon) had an unbelievable summer and will be a top contender. Joey Hovinga (sophomore, Forest City) will be one of those guys up front for us. Randy Jimenez (junior, Indianola, Southeast Warren HS) was a top-seven guy all season and has had a great summer. Jack Orengo (5th-year, Naperville, Ill., Neuqua Valley HS) put in a huge summer. He’s back for a fifth year because he wanted to be a big part of this team. And Derek Webster (junior, Norwalk), one of our team captains, has really come a long way. He had a really good spring in track.”
Webster and DeValk were part of Central’s top seven at both the conference and regional meets.
Dunham sees a host of other veterans pushing as well.
How quickly the freshmen contribute will depend on how well they make the jump to the longer 8,000-meter distances they’ll have to run.
“A lot of it has to do with what they do in the summer,” Dunham said. “They don’t have to do a lot more but there’s just a couple key things they need to do and these freshmen, I know they’ve done that. They’ve really put in the work to put themselves in position.”
Dunham prioritizes his athletes’ health and is particularly cautious in ensuring that freshmen don’t overtrain.
“It can happen, for sure,” he said. “I kind of have a policy where I make our freshmen take a day off every two weeks where they don’t run at all and sometimes it’s every week if I’m not liking what I’m seeing. I’m pretty sensitive to that.”
The rookies will be immediately tested by a challenging schedule. Central, which opens the season with its own meet on the college’s cross country course Sept. 1, will return to the University of Minnesota for the Roy Griak Invitational Sept. 22. The meet attracted 29 teams for the college division which included numerous Division II squads. The race precedes a Division I team race.
“Our runners love that course,” Dunham said. “It’s a really neat environment. We’ve run really well there the last two years.”
And the Dutch will get a taste of national-level competition with an Oct. 14 trip to the Connecticut College Invitational. It’s the second time Central has entered the meet.
“Adding the meet is a really exciting thing for our program,” Dunham said. “That will be really fun.”
Playing host to the American Rivers meet Oct. 28 should enhance Central’s chances of an improved conference finish.
“It’s a tough course but it’s an honest course,” Dunham said. “We’re going to spend a lot of time on our course this year. It should be an advantage.”
The conference is fiercely competitive but Dunham is confident of climbing after placing fourth last year.
“I would say top three,” he said. “Again, Loras is going to be very good and Wartburg is going to be very good. Both of those teams are probably top-15 teams in the country. And so we’re going to be fighting with those guys as well as Simpson and others. But I really feel like we can run with them and I think our men really believe that, too.”
Silver and Jorgenson’s big-meet experience should prove beneficial this fall.
“They’ve run at the national level,” Dunham said. “They’ve run in a lot of really big meets, both in track and cross country. They’ll get another couple opportunities this fall so they’ll be well-prepared and they’re not going to be overwhelmed. I’ll really be leaning on them for their experience in terms of how they help the rest of the team deal with some of that.”
Beyond a national team berth, the Dutch are eyeing all-America performances for the team’s top runners.
“These guys just really need to run within themselves,” he said.
But before the national meet, Dunham must choose a top seven for the regional. He’s excited that the job is going to be far more difficult than in recent seasons.
“What’s going to be really hard is determining who those top seven are going to be,” he said. “I tell the team that it’s a body of work. But we also look at the previous race. That’s going to hold a lot of weight because you want people who are running fast at the right time. It’s going to be a tough call.”
Central hasn’t qualified as a team for the NCAA meet since 2015 and a return trip tops the season wish list. It will require knocking off some established contenders, but Dunham enters the year quietly hopeful.
“I do think that we can do it,” he said. “I believe in these guys.”
