Incoming cross-country assistant coach Michael Whittlesey joins Kansas this summer from North Carolina and has big plans for the Kansas team. When Whittlesey decided to come to Kansas, former Jayhawk Olympians Jim Ryun, Ray Moultun and Kristi Kloster — the University of Kansas’ first woman to win an NCAA track championship — weren’t far from his mind.

“KU has a great heritage of track and field,” Whittlesey said. “We can become a great distance team. I want to be a part of that.”

Whittlesey is more than qualified to do so. In six of his years at North Carolina he helped train 65 NCAA All-Americans and in 10 of his 11 years with North Carolina the women’s cross-country team advanced to the NCAA National Championships.

Whittlesey said he tried to push his athletes to achieve not only the goals they thought were obtainable, but also the dreams they thought were out of their grasps. Whittlesey said the most difficult obstacle a runner had to overcome was his or her own mind. But with numerous experienced runners, this shouldn’t be much of a problem.

“We didn’t lose any of our top runners on either team, so we have more leadership returning,” coach Stanley Redwine said. “We hope that the experience and leadership means better results throughout the season.”

These top runners are sophomore Donny Wasinger, senior Bret Imgrund and junior Nick Capairo on the men’s team, and senior Lauren Bonds and juniors Amanda Miller and Kara Windisch for the women’s team.

Bonds finished 16th last year in the NCAA Midwest regionals. Wasinger and Imgrund finished 29th and 31st, respectively, in the men’s race. However, the cross-country team consists of more than its top six runners.

“We have to have quality depth to be successful,” Redwine said. “We have added athletes that can contribute as well as those returning from last year. Our seventh through 10th runners have to be good and push our fourth through sixth runners. We have to approach it as one team, not as everyone depending on our top runners.”

In addition to freshmen runners, that depth includes Windisch, Lindsay Schaefer and Rebeka Stowe who are returning for their second year running at Kansas and will have a whole year of participating and training at a collegiate level behind them.

On the men’s side, sophomore Kaleb Humphreys, junior Dan Van Ordsel, and senior Isaiah Shirlen will all be returning after a strong team effort at regionals.

They will all have a chance to prove themselves in their first meet Sept. 5 for The Bob Timmons Classic at home at Rim Rock Farm, northwest of Lawrence, where they will compete against runners from other universities as well as some Kansas alumni.

— ­— Edited by Michelle Sprehe