But what the Raiders have for the league championships Saturday is home-course advantage at Fairborn Community Park, which means familiarity with the layout and plenty of vocal support.
Coach Rick Williamson is hoping those factors can help his runners shave at least a couple of seconds off their times.
“Having the home crowd can give you a little energy and boost your performance — if you channel that energy properly,” Williamson said.
“It’s not a super-technical course, but it’s nice to know where you are. In cross country, sometimes you go to a course, and even though there’s marks out there, you’re not real sure how far it is to the finish. Knowing that certainly helps.”
The Raiders hosted the league meet in 2015 but farmed it out to Cedarville University. They also hosted in 2005 at John Bryan State Park.
The men run at 11 a.m., the women at noon.
The school is charging admission, but it’s only $5 per car regardless of the number of occupants.
“We’re pumped,” Williamson said. “We’ve been thinking about this for two years, so we’re super excited.”
The women have been led by junior Kaitlyn Miller and seniors Alicia Neumeier and Emma Johnson, who have been the team’s top three runners every meet.
Miller was sixth at Cedarville’s All-Ohio Intercollegiate and 11th at Bowling Green’s event.
Neumeier was 11th at the conference race last season and made second-team all-league.
Junior Alex McCarty has led the men each meet this year and hasn’t finished outside the top 15. He was third out of 427 runners in Louisville’s Live in Lou Classic.
Freshman Noah Sharp has been a surprise contributor. But the Raiders have lost three of their top seven runners to injuries.
“That’s a bit of a negative,” Williamson said. “But the guys we have are coming along at the right time and are ready to run well for sure.”
The best finish in the league for the women was a close second in 2018 and another runner-up showing in ‘16.
The men were third in 2013 and 2000.
“I have a new assistant, Noah Schaub, and he was crunching numbers on the men’s side. He thinks they’ve got a chance at top 5 or top 6, which would be a nice step. Last year, they had a rough performance,” Williamson said.
“For the women, probably sixth or seventh would be a good day if we have a good performance.”
The Raiders hosted the season-opening Mike Baumer Classic at Fairborn Community Park. They also had a tune-up on the course Friday but held out their top runners.
“It’s really flat, which I don’t particularly love. But we like to say it’s very spectator-friendly,” Williamson said.
“It’s a 2,000-meter loop. The women will do it three times and the men four times, which sounds a little boring, but it’s actually not. And it helps the crowd see a lot of the race.”
MEN’S GOLF: The Raiders had their best showing of the fall last week, making a run at the Dayton Flyer Invitational title.
They were third out of 13 teams at 10-under, two strokes behind champion Marquette, a perennial Big East contender, and one behind Illinois, which has won the last eight Big Ten crowns.
Fifth-year player Mikkel Mathiesen and senior Andrew Flynn tied for fourth at 5-under. Mathiesen, the 2022 Horizon League champ, went 69-67-72 on the 7,006-yard South Course, while Flynn went 71-70-67.
Tyler Goecke, who transferred to Illinois after being a two-time Horizon League golfer of the year for the Raiders, went 70-71-72 to tie for 18th.
Illinois’ Timmy Crawford won the event by a whopping 10 shots by finishing minus-16.
Dayton was ninth at plus-17.
The Raiders return to action in February. The league tourney is in April.
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