New Idaho State cross country coach Sean-Patrick Oswald was hoping the chaos enveloping NCAA eligibility standards was going to give him some extra manpower during his first season at the Bengal helm.
Unfortunately, the results of the various eligibility adjudications haven't worked in the Bengals' favor, and he hasn't been able to get an extra season of eligibility for three experienced athletes that he'd hoped for.
"The court cases and their impacts continue to make for a dynamic situation," Oswald said. "At the moment, we do not expect those athletes to have eligibility this fall. We will happily welcome them back if anything changes, but I love the roster of athletes that we do have and the impact I'm certain they'll have."
That means that Seth Babbel, who led ISU with a 12th-place finish in last year's Big Sky Conference meet, and Sunny Gunn, who placed 29th, probably won't be competing for Idaho State this fall on the men's side. On the women's side, Ashley Reeck, who led ISU with a 16th-place finish, likely won't be eligible this year either.
So, the Bengals went into their first meet of the season at Utah State with somewhat lower expectations than they had when those three athletes were part of the roster.
"We approached this first meet as an opportunity to 'train with competition,'" Oswald said of the Utah State Alumni Challenge, which took place Sept. 5. "With less than a month together, our goals were to establish good pre-race routines, work through some early-season nerves, and execute a patient race plan while we continue training toward our more important races in October and beyond."
Big Sky rival Weber State dominated the three-team meet, winning the women's side with 27 points to Utah State's 30, and ISU's 80. On the men's side, Weber had 15 points, Utah State 44 and ISU 77.
ISU's finishers on the women's side, running a 5K race, included:
Allie Lemmons, 19:35.32; 27. Alivia Johnson, 19:38.24; 31. Natalya Babeck, 20:02.40; 35. Elise Wright, 20:15.88; 39. Ava Berg, 20:30.20; 40. Kaitlyn Blackham, 20:51.79; 41. Reagan Berg, 21:05.64.
On the men's side, running 7K:
Champ Ransom, 22:38.3; 28. Sam Jeppsen, 22:42.7; 34. Jackson Koontz, 23:18.4; 36. Brent Clark, 23:30.3; 38. George Karamitsos, 23:38.1; 40. Jacob Van Orden, 24:00.4.
"I thought the team did a good job staying controlled early and competing hard through the finish," said Oswald. "Particularly since we haven't spent much time running at race pace in practice yet. Elise Wright was a highlight for us, running a personal best and showing that the work she has put in is beginning to pay off."
Wright is a second-year competitor from Providence, Utah.
The Bengals had last weekend off. They will travel to Missoula to compete in the Montana Invite on Friday. Then they'll host their only home meet, the Bengal Invitational, on Friday, Oct. 2.
"Overall, this (the Utah State meet) gave us a useful starting point," said Oswald. "We are not shy about acknowledging there is room for improvement, but we're confident that our patient and consistent approach will have us where we want to be as the season progresses. We're already back to work and building from it as we focus on executing one day at a time."