Q & A with Penn State Behrend Cross Country Head Coach Greg Cooper

What are your thoughts on your team at this point in your season?

For the women's team, I feel this is one of the strongest teams overall we've had in the past few years. From top to bottom we have a strong pack, good leadership from a variety of our women, and the team chemistry is good. We have yet to run with all of our women in any meet, and I think when we are healthy and ready to go at the end of the season, we'll be very strong.

For the men, it's been hard to deal with injuries and sickness from key returners. Despite being without them we've been second at every meet we've competed in this year, even when going up against regionally and nationally ranked competition.  I feel this has helped each of our men realize how important they are to the team from one through 13.

Who is performing particularly well for the team right now?

For the women, we have been led by Jenna Fatica all year long. She has run PR's in the 5k and 6k this season, and helped lead our other women to better times as well.  Joining Fatica, Mallory Souleret has been a consistent #2, Liz Keller and Emily Berry have contributed with strong races, and Tanisha Wheatley has been running extremely well.  Even as those five have led us, freshman Lauren Pecor and sophomore Alex Falvo have stepped up and been contributors to the team as well and are looking very strong.

For the men, Andy Iams has been running faster and faster times while leading the Behrend team.  After him, we've had a contingent of runners including Steve Monnie, Justin DiPenti, Rob Shrawder, Alex Zarger, Carl Kallgren, and Bobby Cizek who have all been within 75 seconds of Andy at some point this year, and usually within ten seconds of each other.  The pack is running really strong and that has led to success for our team.

How does the conference look this season?

In my estimation, the women's championship at the conference meet is probably one of the toughest it's been in a while. Frostburg State is four-deep with talented runners. Newcomer Franciscan is strong and beat us earlier in the season, and Penn State Altoona is the returning runners-up, and they host the championship meet this year.  I feel we are stronger than last season, and as we come together at the end of the season, I believe we can repeat as champions.

For the men, the biggest threat in the conference is once again Frostburg State. They lost two all-conference athletes from a year ago, but brought in a good freshman class as well as last season's runner up and track and field All-American Brian Leiter.  The key will be to put our pack in front of theirs at the conference meet, but they will be strong competition.

What is the biggest challenge facing your team entering the second half of the regular season?

Getting healthy and staying that way is a key for the men's and women's teams. If we can stay healthy, we'll be very strong throughout the season. One thing we have learned in the first month of the season is that we can compete and do well when someone is out or someone is having a bad day, but we are obviously much better when we are all healthy and competing well.

What are your expectations for the end of the season and championships?

For both teams, our goal is to repeat as AMCC champions, win as many All-Conference and special conference awards as possible, and then to go on two weeks later and finish better at the NCAA regional meet than we did a year ago.  Individually, I feel we have some athletes who are capable of being on the All-Regional team and some who can run a good race and earn a spot at the NCAA championships