And given their potential, he could see them becoming legitimate title contenders in 2022.
They placed three runners in the top 10 at Bowling Green’s Falcon Invite last weekend — Jacob Poling (third), Alex McCarty (fourth) and Tayton Hess (ninth) — on the way to a runner-up finish among seven schools.
Poling, of Prospect, Ohio, is a sophomore in eligibility, while McCarty (Eaton) and Hess (Beavercreek) are freshmen.
“They’ve just got the right attitude,” Williamson said. “They’re terrific competitors. They’re coachable and diligent about their work. They’ve got all the attributes to be successful in this sport for sure.”
Nathan Dunn was a perennial all-league performer for the Raiders, finishing second in a photo finish at the HL meet as a senior in 2019. The Covington native has the two fastest 8K times in school history.
Those leading the charge this year may not reach those heights, but they probably won’t be far behind.
“They’re about where Nate was at this point in his career,” said Williamson, who is in his seventh year as coach after five seasons as an assistant,
“Of course, Nate was just a rock star. Not everyone continues to get better and better constantly. We’ll see what happens. But if they’re anywhere close to Nate, that’s pretty good.”
The women lack depth this season, but fifth-year senior Abbi Halsey could challenge for the individual title.
She finished second at the Falcon Invite. The only runner to beat her was former Wright State star Shelby Nolan, who has exhausted her cross-country eligibility but is keeping in shape for indoor track. She competed in the open meet as an unattached runner.
“Just like Shelby, she does every single part of our routine. Even when we don’t have practice, she does every stride, every drill,” Williamson said.
“You don’t expect them to be 100% like that, but that’s Abbi. She’s just super, super diligent.”
The Tipp City product was all-conference last season with a fifth-place showing and has already been named a league runner of the week.
“She beat some really good people on Saturday,” Williamson said. “Akron has some top runners, a couple of international girls, and Abbi beat them by over 30 seconds. That was impressive.”
Williamson has turned much of the men’s training over to assistant Blake Guillozet, and divvying up duties is paying off — even though the team hasn’t been at full strength.
Max Pettit, a junior from Enon, finished 15th at the league meet in 2020 and 19th two years ago. He suffered a season-ending foot injury in August.
“If we had Max, that would be enormous. Our top four would be better than every other top four in the conference,” Williamson said.
“This year, we’re just learning how to take the next step and to compete at this level. Next year, I think it’ll really be our year.”
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