Jags cross country team looking forward to upcoming season

After finishing third in men’s and fifth in women’s at the 2000 SWAC Cross Country Championships, with final standings at 107 points for the women and 93 points for the men, the Southern University cross country team is trying to forget about its poor performance entering the 2001 season.
“I do not live in the past. This is a new season,” said SU head cross country coach Johnny Thomas. ” Last year is over and done with for this team.”
“We should have won” said the cross country team Captain Chibale Bandele.
Thomas feels optimistic about his cross country teams chances of winning the conference this year even with a young team entering the season which consists of 48 men and 28 women.
” It will take about five weeks to see what the team is made of.” said Thomas. The Lady Jaguars return three returning seniors Kenya Warren, Sahaj Pitre and Leah Walker and two newcomers in Rayla Hunt and Erikka Thomas.
The men have Chibale Bandele, Murrey Guillory, Charles Moon, Clary Reed and Rashad Cane.
“The whole team feels good with returning members Charles, Roger Whitlock and Kenya.” said Bandele.
“We have lots of unknown talent and we are at a stage of weeding out and conditioning” said Thomas who admitted that the team is at their most critical stage right now entering its first meet of the season.
SU’s first meet is this Saturday September 8 but the location is to be determined, the meet was originally scheduled on campus but as of press time (Weds.) Thomas was in the process of finding a meet site either at The Fair Ground or at another Baton Rouge area location.
” Every meet is important.” said Thomas. “I feel very competitive. I have not had that feeling in the past four or five years.”
For this year this team is looking toward the future of a SWAC Championship and leaving the past in the past because in cross country running you run forward and not backwards.