IU Columbus men’s and women’s cross-country coach Tim Hoeflinger, left, speaks at the school’s media day as runners Connor Beatty and Audra McNear look on.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
After competing as individuals in its inaugural season of cross-country last fall, IU Columbus’ men and women will be able to compete as teams this season.
The Crimson Pride have five men and six women to open the season. They had only three of each last year, and a minimum of five are needed to score as a team.
“I’m excited that we have basically doubled,” Audra McNear said. “It was fun when we were small. We have a good group of kids. The dynamic is awesome. It’s nice to have a team.”
McNear, a Madison native, and fellow sophomore Brett Kleber are the lone returning women’s runners. Kleber, a Seymour graduate, was IUC’s top runner last season after running the previous two years at Mount Vernon (Ohio) Nazarene.
Kleber’s former high school teammate at Seymour, Abby Voss, is one of four freshmen on the women’s team. The others are Columbus residents Erin Jones and Jackie Mouser and Greenwood native Sofie Noe.
The men’s team, meanwhile, features five baseball players who are running cross-country to get in better shape. Connor Beatty, a sophomore from Augusta, Michigan, is the lone returner.
Beatty is joined by sophomores Jonathan Moreno (Whiteland) and Blake Nigg (Mooresville) and freshmen Jose Martinez (Columbus East) and Quincy Collins (Pike).
“I’m super excited about this year, and I think something that we’re going to be bringing to the table this year is obviously more runners,” Beatty said. “We’ll be able to actually compete as a team on the men’s side and the women’s side, and I’m really looking forward to that.”
The Crimson Pride open the season Saturday at Hanover College.
“I’m extremely excited to get going again here for our second season,” IUC coach Tim Hoeflinger said. “Last year, we did get a little bit of a late start. I got hired in March (of 2022), so trying to turn around a recruiting class for the fall was a pretty big challenge.”
The teams will conclude the regular season Nov. 4 at the River States Conference meet, where they hope to earn a berth to the NAIA National Championships.
“We had a lot of fun last year,” Hoeflinger said. “We grew a lot. We got stronger. We got better, and I think it’s just going to continue to build as we go through the year. I think we have a chance to be pretty competitive in our (River States) conference, so I’m really looking forward to the opportunity of getting to do that this year.”
