Idaho State cross country head coach Brian Janssen doesn’t sugarcoat things — 2013 is going to be a rough year for the Bengals.

    Two of their best runners, Chloe Palakovich on the womens’ side and Bryce Jenkins on the mens’ side, graduated. The two women who were going to fill that gap, Kylie Hutchison and Audrey Urlacher, are redshirting due to injuries.

    After that, there are mostly underclassmen on the womens’ roster. Sophomore Katie Nichols, who finished 32nd in the Big Sky Championship and 95th in the NCAA Mountain Regional, anchors a young Bengal team.

    “Nichols will probably be one that’s going to improve a great deal, and after that we’re looking at freshman,” Janssen said.

    Those freshman won’t be without their upperclassmen leadership. Though they are redshirting, the presence of both Hutchison and Urlacher will still be felt on the team.

    Diagnosed with a herniated disc after the Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Hutchison is still recovering, and it’s been a tumultuous journey to getting back to 100 percent. She’s had three months of physical therapy, and some days are better than others. Hutchison still tries to run every day.

    “It still bothers me a little bit, but I’m getting it to a point where I can start building my miles and start including speed work,” she said. “Some days are good days where I’m able to run eight (miles), ... but then other days it’s hurting pretty bad so I have to hold back and only run a couple.”

    While Urlacher, who’s coming off a stress fracture, will look to run some races unattached, the Bengals will still be without her services, at least when it comes to scoring. So Idaho State isn’t too deep on the women’s side, but Janssen contends it is still a good group with a lot of room to grow.

    Just how quickly that growth occurs is still up to question, and Janssen doesn’t cut any corners when saying the struggle will be heavy, at least early on.

    “There’s some teams in our conference that will absolutely crush us,” he said. “With their attitude, I think if they can stay together and stay marginally motivated and positive, they will be good down the road in two, three, four years.”

    At this point in their careers, the team is young. Janssen says the inevitability to facing some adverse meets should be expected. The competition is simply at a different level.

    “To expect our men to go out and run with NAU, that’d be like me driving my 84’ Ford truck up against a Raptor and expecting it to keep up,” Janssen said. “It’s just not going to happen. So you’re realistic with what you can accomplish knowing that there are some physical parameters that you’re not going to exceed.

    “You work to that level, and hopefully every year you get a little stronger.”

    That isn’t to say Janssen is expecting his team to lie down and wait for their times to magically get better. There still is work to be done and goals to be met. The women were pegged by the coaches of the Big Sky to finish fifth. The men, seventh.

    Janssen expects his team to finish right in the middle of the conference. To him, that’s a safe bet. But he considers himself to be conservative, so he wouldn’t be surprised if his team faired better.

    “If they finish in the top half, both of them, that would probably be a pretty good season for us this year,” he said. “I think that’s realistic.”