There are many ways to view a roster where youth is the dominant feature. In the case of the John Carroll men's cross country team, head coach Dara Ford prefers to see things from an optimistic standpoint.

"Right now, we have a great group of hard working young guys who are really striving to bring this program back to the top of the OAC," said Ford. "We are still a very young team with just one senior and two juniors, so we will look upon the sophomore leaders and a talented freshman class to lead the team to a successful season."

It became apparent to Ford when assessing the team last fall that the future success of the program would depend upon a much-needed infusion of new talent during the off-season. But the new talent did not necessarily have to come strictly from a freshmen class. of the 11 newcomers on the 2009 roster, only five are first-year student-athletes.

Mike Joseph is the lone senior on this year['s squad, while team captain Bob Seeholzer is the only one of three juniors who competed for the Blue Streaks in 2008. A solid core of sophomores led by Aaron Sharp, Jeff Sigmund and Jake Smith figure to continue the progression they started last year.

With the season getting underway on September 5 at the Sudeck Classic hosted by Case Western Reserve University, Ford is anxious to see where the 2009 season will take her young team.

"We have several newcomers that should make an immediate impact and should be in the varsity mix right away," said Ford. "We have many others runners who have been working hard this summer and also will look to make their mark in the top seven. It will be exciting to see how the freshmen and sophomores develop as the season progresses."