Head Coach Sean McManus

The journey for repeat appearances in the NCAA West Regional began at the beginning of September for the Fresno State cross country team.

The ‘Dogs had a relatively strong showing at the Western Athletic Conference Championships last season with the men’s team finishing in fourth place and the women’s team finished in fifth place out of the nine schools competing.

With its performance in the championships, Fresno State advanced to the NCAA West Regional where the men’s team finished in 19th place and the women’s team finished in 26th place.

Now, with the 2011 season up and running, the cross country team has goals it wants to accomplish this season. Head coach Sean McManus is in his third season as head man of the cross country program and is impressed with his returning roster, one runner in particular.

“Eric [Battles] is one of my all-time favorites,” McManus said. “He’s nearly a 4.0 student. He’s been All-WAC on the track [team] and in cross country. So he’s one of those all around student-athletes that you really want on your team as a leader. He’s a senior now and he is kind of fulfilling that leadership role. If we had a team full of guys like that I would have a lot less gray hair probably. So we’re happy to have him and we’re going to miss him when he does graduate after this season.”

Battles is one of the premier returning Bulldogs, men or women, along with junior Ann Poythress who have both made their presence felt so far this season. Battles finished second in the 6K race in the Nevada Chase Race, the first meet of the year held on Sept. 2. Poythress finished the 3-mile women’s race in third place. Battles’ performance helped the Fresno State men’s team finish second overall and the women’s team finish third overall.

The Nevada Chase Race was the Bulldogs’ first meet of the season and they have since competed in the Hornet Jamboree, hosted by Sacramento State on Sept. 10. The ‘Dogs had a successful trip up north as they finished within the top five for both the men’s and women’s teams.

Although the veterans on the team have made a difference already, they aren’t the only Bulldog contributors McManus hopes will shoulder the load and help Fresno State make a run at a conference championship.

“Hopefully they contribute. It’s always a little bit of a wild card with freshmen making the jump,” McManus said. “On the men’s side for cross country, the distance compared to high school is a lot longer,” They run 5K races in high school and we run 8K for the majority of the season. So that takes a little bit of work. For the women, the courses are the same. The races are 5K for the majority of the season and then 6K at the end so it’s only a half-mile longer. It’s really a little bit easier transition for the women. So we’re excited about all of our freshmen.”

Freshmen Chriss Grimble and Kevin Poythress, Ann’s younger brother, have finished in the top 10 in the Watermelon Run, which is open to the public. This wasn’t an official race for the 2011 season, but the freshmen showed there wouldn’t be a slow transition from running at the high school level to the collegiate level.

Now, with the veterans and new additions proving themselves just two official races into the 2011 season, the only thing that the program has yet to accomplish is an annual cross country meet held locally.

“Anytime that we can get people in the community to come out and support what we’re trying to do it’s a great thing,” McManus said. “Cross country is a big thing here in Fresno and Clovis because they host the state championship here for state of California in high school. Everyone in California and on the West Coast knows Woodward Park. We do want to take advantage of that get the community out supporting us. We are hosting the Mountain West Cross Country Championships in two years, so our second year in the Mountain West. So we’re trying to get big meets here.”