Logan Jones, a freshman, and Marcus Shin, a senior, are both members of the men’s cross country team. 

This is Jones's first year on the team and he approached it with high expectations. Jones said, “At the end of the day, we wanted a conference title, and we didn't achieve that this year, so expectations were not met, but with it being a young team, we have a strong class going forward.” Shin has been on the team since freshman year. Shin spoke about his expectations at the beginning of the year and said, “ I wouldn't say we exceeded expectations, but I think we definitely exceeded some teams' expectations that thought less of us this year.”

Jones felt that this year went well for him. “I've never run the 8k before, [I’m] more of a middle distance runner,” he said, “So I was excited to get my feet wet in the 8k distance and excited to get back to work next year and finish some of the business that we left undone.” 

Shin felt he had a bumpy season. “My season was rough. The first three races were really bad. Not only did I have some stuff that I was going through, but others were just unfortunate events, like the previous race I ran, where I had a stomach cramp in the middle, which ruined the race for me and the team,” he said. 

Jones is proud of the results during the conference and of his teammates. Jones said, “ I don't think I could ever not be proud. I think going out there and doing all the hard work, I'm always proud of the effort I pushed myself, and just wasn't my day for the conference, and I mean that happens, and so it's more about what am I going to do to bounce back from that at regionals.” 

Shin feels that the team still has ground to improve. “We definitely could have done a little better. We were thee points from second place, and I honestly thought we had second place in the bag,” he said, “So I am a little disappointed that we did not get second place because it would have been our first time as a team getting second place.”

Jones will maintain his current routine to prepare for nationals. He's had a steady routine all year round. Shin won't be making many changes in his routine either, besides going to the Wellness Center more and using the massage chairs to ensure his body doesn't cramp or get hurt.

Jones had high expectations as the team prepped for regionals. “I know that we have people on the men's and women's side who are capable of qualifying as individuals for nationals, so doing the best that we can to put them in the best positions to place well.” Shin also had high expectations for regonials. He said, “If I race, I want to go under 32 minutes for the team. I want this to be the first team to go to nationals in the entire Concordia program, but if that doesn't happen, I want at least one of our guys to make it to nationals as an individual.”

Tags: sports, cross country, Men's Athletics

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