Melissa Lyall returns for Park in her senior season.

PARKVILLE, Mo. – The 2010 Park University cross country season will begin this Saturday, Sept. 4 in Lawrence, Kan., as the Pirates compete in the Bob Timmons Classic hosted by the University of Kansas.

The meet will begin at 9 a.m. with the men's college and university 6K race. At 10 a.m. the women will hit the course to compete in the 5K race.

Park will go up against five other teams including KU, Colby Community College, Garden City Community College, Neosho Community College and Marysville University.

The beginning of the season will also mark the 20th year that head coach Brian Renshaw has been at the helm of the Park men’s and women’s cross country team, making him the longest tenured head coach in the history of Park University athletics.
 
Renshaw’s women’s cross country team is looking to qualify for the NAIA National Championship meet for the sixth year in a row, as senior Alex Harkins and sophomore Kimberly Brown look to the lead the 2010 squad that returns six runners from the AMC Championship team.
 
“We have been fortunate to qualify for nationals five years in a row and we would like to go to nationals again, but it takes a lot to do that,” said Renshaw. “But I think this year’s team is more than capable. We have got to stay healthy this season and I think to do that we are going to start out a little bit slower this year and work our way up as the season progresses.”
 
Park will also return the services of senior Maria Tutu, the Kansas City, Mo. native sat out of the 2009 cross country season with an injury but was part of Park’s 2007 and 2008 cross country squad’s that qualified for nationals in Kenosha, Wisc.
 
The 11 member women’s squad will return seven runners from last season and will welcome in four newcomers and coach Renshaw likes what he sees in his first year athletes.
 
“We’ve got some pretty strong individuals on this year’s team including freshman Niesha Morgan, who I think is a huge addition,” said Renshaw. “Elizabeth Grubbs is another newcomer that is going to help us, but as a whole we are going to have a good group.”
 

Eric Zorn returns for his third season with the Pirates in 2010.

On the men’s side, the squad will also have 11 athletes on its roster and expects to be a force in the American Midwest standings. Park finished the 2009 conference meet in third place behind McKendree and William Woods and coach Renshaw hopes for his team to move up the standings in 2010.
 
“We have some guys that really like to compete and want to compete at a high level this year and what we are really looking for is improvement all around from this team,” said Renshaw. “I am looking forward to the new year, because we have set a goal as a squad to move up the rankings in the AMC.”
 
Park will return several runners from last year’s team including seniors Tyler Kranz and Cordell Hylton, juniors Trey Crawford, Will Zibers and Eric Zorn and sophomore Dakota Olsen.
 
The five newcomes will consist of sophomores James Straubel and Daniel Tubei and freshmen Christian Hoffman, Anthony Stasiak and Arthur Vollbrecht.
 
“I like the effort that I have seen out of our newcomers on the men’s side and I think Daniel Tubei is someone to look out for and will be a pretty good runner for us,” Renshaw said. “Honestly I think the freshman class as a whole is quite strong.”
 

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