From 2004 to 2007, Patrick McGowan, Colby Wissel, Hayley Harbert and Paul Hefferon were teammates on the Kansas cross country team. Today they may not have any remaining eligibility, but they’re training with this year’s team for the upcoming indoor and outdoor track season while helping the team prepare throughout the season.

Lauren Bonds, Hutchinson junior, is one of the current runners that is thrilled that they will come to practice.

“Hayley is one of my favorite people to run with,” Bonds said. “She had a good outdoor season last year, and I’m excited she’s using her last year here.”

Alison Knoll, Shawnee junior, shared a similar opinion.

“I enjoy running with Hayley at practice, she’s a very hard worker. She’s helped me out the past couple of years with my running; she is a positive motivational person.”

When Harbert ran for the team in 2007, the Shawnee native ran a personal best 6K time of 21:44 at the Midwest Regional, scored points from second to fifth for the Jayhawks and made the Academic All-Big 12 Second Team.

“I love to practice with the team because it’s very motivating to train with others,” Harbert said. “Also, when I train with the team it provides a bit of anaerobic running, which I probably wouldn’t get by myself.”

Harbert believes in the importance of working as a team.

“We definitely talk about our short- and long-term goals, as well as what we’re struggling with at different points in the season. As teammates, it’s important that we encourage each other because we’re all in it together,” she said.

Harbert says that girls consider her a “team mom” because of the age difference between her and the current team.

She also says it is important to get mileage in before the season starts. Harbert is eligible for indoor and outdoor track this year beginning in January.

Like Harbert, Patrick McGowan is also eligible for indoor and outdoor track and is training for a meet in December.

“It’s good to be able to train with them so I won’t have to train on my own,” the Springdale, Ark., senior said.

In 2007, McGowan ran a career best 10K of 32:25 at the Midwest Regionals.

McGowan said that although the team was doing a few different workouts, he was glad to be around them.

“It’s great to hang around the team and experience the highs and lows with them,” he said.

During practices, McGowan tries to keep everyone entertained. “I try to keep a light-hearted mood around practice,” he said. “I make sure everybody’s having a good time.”

Many of the current team members said he was the funniest.

“He’s a pretty funny guy. He’s very good at making people laugh,” Donny Wasinger, Winona, Minn., freshman, said.

He may joke and give everyone a hard time, but McGowan said he tried to steer the team without being a boss. Bonds said McGowan was very knowledgeable. Both she and McGowan did the Steeplechase event for outdoor track last year

“He taught me everything I know about Steeplechase, like all the team drills. He’s good to have around,” Bonds said.

Another runner the team is glad to have around is two-time All-American runner Colby Wissel. Wissel was named an All-American in 2006 and 2007, becoming just the fifth runner in school history to receive this honor twice. Wissel finished first for the team in every meet the team competed during 2007, and was the only Jayhawk to go to the NCAA Championships, where he finished 39th overall.

“Colby knows his stuff,” Clay Schneider, Topeka redshirt freshman, said. “He ran a 7:53 for 3K indoors, which is absolutely phenomenal. I just hope I can be that great; he’s a great guy to look up to.”

Wissel only has one more year of indoor eligibility remaining and thought it made sense to prepare for it with the team.

“It’s nice to work out with these guys; we do a lot of the same things so it made sense,” he said. “Hopefully they can help me and I can help them.”

Many of the young runners already learned from Wissel about what to expect in collegiate running.

“He told us about early in the year how different it is from a 5K,” Wasinger said. “He knows what he’s talking about and you know he’s for real.”

Danny Van Orsdel, Minnatonka, Minn., sophomore, said he and Bret Imgrund, Shawnee junior, learned a lot fromliving with McGowan and Wissel.

“They’ve been around longer than us and experienced everything and so it taught us a lot in the social life or in the running world,” Orsdel said.

Orsdel said he and Imgrund were where they are today because of their leadership.

Sam Bird, Columbia City, Ind., freshman recalled having Wissel be his host for a day during his recruiting visit.

“He showed that all of those great All-American runners live normal lives,” he said. “He also showed that anybody can be one of those people if they put the time and the effort.”

Bird said that training with Wissel was a confidence booster.

“It’s definitely encouraging for the rest of us when we’re able to stay with him as we get to see how he trains and what it’s like to get to that next level,” he said.

Wissel said he thought this team had a lot of depth and potential for some All-Americans.

“When I was a freshman, I was very far from being an All-American, so I wouldn’t write anybody off yet,” he said. “But there’s a lot of talent here and it’s important for them to continue to develop.”

Fellow All-American Paul Hefferon, Overland Park senior, trains with the team. However, he is only able to train with the team on Sundays because of scheduling conflicts. Hefferon is ineligible to run for KU; however the Overland Park senior is training for a club meet in December.

Schneider said he talked to Hefferon the most and said he was a good guy to listen to on long runs.

“He’s very knowledgeable he has very good insight on the whole thing,” he said. “Whenever you are doubting yourself, talk to him. He’ll get you going.”

Nick Caprario, Kearney, Neb., sophomore, said that their leadership was beneficial.

“They play a big role in helping the new guys, especially the freshmen, understand what we do here.”

— — Edited by Scott R. Toland