Going into this cross-country season, the Oswego State Lakers anticipated another great season after placing fourth out of 10 in the SUNYAC Championship meet last season. Junior Dylan McCarthy was looked at to take that next step and be the driving force for the team. While McCarthy has had another successful season, senior Colin Greenseich has really impressed.

Going into this season, Greenseich had just one top-five finish throughout his first three seasons. As a senior alone, he has had three top-five finishes in five races. Although we see such a big jump in his finishes, that is not a big surprise.

This past June, Oswego State athletes hired a new cross-country coach, Evan Magnussen. Even though Magnussen is a new face, he kept the training regiment consistent in the offseason.

“Offseason wise, he did not change much,” Greenseich said. “And I think that consistent mileage and the same thing I had already been doing helps me move further.”

In the average person’s eyes, consistency in cross-country is not nearly as emphasized as it should be. In training especially, it helps a runner improve substantially.

“With what we do, the more you change, the less successful you are going to be,” said  Magnussen. “Everything we do is physiologically based; it is not a skill sport where we are missing this part of the movement, so we need to work on that.”

Greenseich has taken this to heart, as his times do not vary much. With that in mind, it is no surprise that Greenseich was able to capture a first-place finish in the 8K at the Oswego State Invitational in September. In that race, he was able to cruise to victory finishing ahead of the second-place finisher, the College at Brockport’s Sean Kuehn, by more than 7 seconds.

As Greenseich crossed the finish line, he still had the energy to turn around and look for his teammates, hopefully finishing right behind him.

As incredible as Greenseich’s season has been, something stands out even, more his devotion to the team itself. Greenseich loves the top-five finishes and all the personal bests. However, he cares about the team’s overall performance even more.

“Although I’m doing well, all I am doing after I finish is looking around behind me to see how everyone else is doing and where my teammates place,” Greenseich said. “I want them to place well, and when they don’t, it is upsetting. Even if I have a good race, I am still upset everyone else didn’t because I want us to do well as a team.”

Greenseich should not be upset at all this season, as the team has done superbly. In four of the five meets, Oswego State has finished in the top five, including two second-place finishes.

In both of those second-place finishes, it has been more than just Greenseich leading the charge. In fact, at the SUNY Poly Invitational, McCarthy was the top finisher for the Lakers in second, with Greenseich following him in third.

At the Oswego State Invitational, it was Greenseich aided by junior Tim Olmsted and sophomore Andrew Boyce, who placed fifth and eighth, respectively.

As Oswego State heads into the SUNYAC Championship this Saturday, Greenseich wants more of that overall team performance to shine like it has all season long. The entire team should be optimistic heading into the conference championship meet. However, if for some reason they are not, Greenseich’s running should give them enough motivation to do better than ever.

“Whenever you have someone up front, it brings a lot of excitement to the team,” Magnussen said. “It just helps the team performance as a whole, so regardless of how much you are contributing, it is really exciting to see ‘oh wow we’ve got this person in front.’”

This excitement can only make the athletes around Greenseich perform even better. Whether it is a guy like McCarthy, who is usually neck and neck with Greenseich, or freshmen like Matthew Morales, seeing a teammate battling it out for first makes cross-country a hell of a lot more fun.

With the SUNYAC Championship meet and the NCAA regionals meet fast approaching, Oswego State cross-country is excited to see if Greenseich can replicate his finishes from throughout the season and just how far this team will go.

Photo: Sports Information via C. Perkins