WEST BURLINGTON - Southeastern Community College Cross Country is coming off the most successful collective season in school history, after winning both men's and women's ICCAC DII conference titles in the previous year. Following their success, the Blackhawks have been ranked first in both men's and women's in the ICCAC DII preseason coach's poll. "It feels good to be respected by coaches across the conference, and that they see our hard work," head coach Lucas Keifer expressed, "we have four returners, it feels like the first day of school again getting to know all the new faces." On the men's side, sophomore Jeff Campbell was a name Keifer mentioned taking a step this year. "I see Jeff making a big leap for us as a team in this coming year. We have a lot of new faces on the men's and women's side in addition to our returners, and I am excited to see how they compete," Coach Keifer declares.

On the girls side, Arianna Pedrin is one to look out for this coming season. "I'm most looking forward to them getting out there and competing. We have had a good amount of success the past few seasons, and I am excited to see our freshman continue that tradition." Chloe Ferneau, Paetyn Wiegand, and Zada Buchholtz are all freshman that coach Kiefer mentioned adding strong depth to the squad.

When asked about what excites him the most this upcoming season Keifer stated, "Seeing the team work hard right now has been the most exciting part. We set up goals individually and as a team and of course everyone wants to make nationals, but what has been the most enjoyable this preseason has been the chance to watch them grow as soon as they stepped on campus."

You can find the full rankings as well as the ICCAC preview at the following link: Click Here

The Blackhawks' first competition is Augist 30th at Mount Mercy University.