A family.
That’s what Ball State cross country head coach Adrian Wheatley wanted his team to become throughout the 2024-25 season.
“I know it’s cliche,” he said. “But these ladies truly care for each other and they hang out all the time. They’re sisters and they support each other. They call each other out with love like brothers and sisters do. But they do that because they want to be good as a whole.”
To assistant coach Rachel Nichwitz, it’s her job to make sure that happens.
“Part of my job is coming to practice and hanging out with the girls,” she said. “It’s to watch them work together and laugh and talk about stupid things. But also compete when the time is right. There’s not a better word for it than [family].”
For the first time, the Cardinals hosted the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship Saturday morning at the university’s new cross-country track. With five seniors on the roster, this was the final MAC Championship for the Cardinals’ upperclassmen. To senior Autumn Spence, it was a bittersweet moment because the roster has truly become a ‘family’ according to
“I definitely cried during warmups,” Spence said, chuckling. “I think everyone’s just excited because we did so well.”
While the red and black have practiced and studied the path, it’s still new to them but makes for a great environment.
“It’s just nice being at our home,” senior Carly Spletzer said. “Having the fans, families and friends trackside makes it a lot easier. When you're in the middle of the race and have everyone cheering for you, it makes it a lot easier.”
Sophomore Autumn Spence runs during the Mid-American Conference Cross Country tournament Nov. 2 hosted at Ball State University. Andrew Berger, DN
The coaches also enjoy the new course. To Wheatley and Nichwitz, it gives them unlimited opportunities for the future.
“When we were tasked to host the [MAC] Championship, I wanted to make sure we had it on campus,” he said. “I thought it was critical for us to host it here because it’s an opportunity to showcase what we're doing. Our facility staff is doing a phenomenal job with seeing our vision and putting it into our reality.”
Going in, the team’s goal was to place better than last year’s result where the red and black finished as the No. 10 team. They did just that as the Cardinals finished the event in the No. 7 spot. While the team wanted to be a little higher, they considered the finish a positive result and look to use it as momentum going forward.
“I’m proud of our young ladies,” Wheatley said. “The great thing about this sport is you put your spikes on, lace up and go out and see what happens. They were brave today and competed for each other.”
Soletzer led the Cardinals with a time of 21:38.75 (26th place), narrowly missing an All-MAC spot. She was followed by sophomore Evie Noel with a 21:50.76 (29th place) and senior Sarah Mahnensmith with a 22:14.25 (42nd place).
Senior Shelby Christman and freshman Tori Jackson rounded out Ball State’s scoring positions. While Jackson is just a freshman, her mindset coming into the campaign was to help the team in any way she possibly could.
“I wanted to be a scorer and I wanted to make an impact on the team,” she said. “Being a part of that is really important to me and it pushes me even more.”
The Cardinals will prepare for the NCAA Regionals, which will take place Friday, Nov. 15 in Norton, Ohio. Going into the race, Wheatley believes the team is in a good spot. However, he knows that overthinking and overtraining can hurt a good thing.
“The hay is in the barn. We just need to sharpen up and in two weeks, there’s not much you can gain,” he said. “You can mess it up by doing too much.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or on X @ZachCarter85.
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