With a week and a half of practice under their belts, the Eastern women’s cross country team seems to look promising this year.

“We can never get too excited this early in season, but I am very pleased with the women’s side.” head coach John McInerney said.

Physically, there are a few members still banged up with injuries carrying over from last year, but the attitude and team building, which McInerney believes is a major aspect to building a competitive team, has gone really well.

“What we are trying to do is establish a new, tight nit, close group of girls,” McInerney said.

With nine new freshman, McInerney believes it is important to “get them in the mix.” All of these women have come from different area, but coach McInerney sees that, “we are already starting to form some good team bonds.”

This is the biggest group the cross country team has seen, and McInerney says all of them are doing very well. The main four, or the women who have been solid from the beginning, are Nicole Flounders from Lockport, JIll Blondell from Downers Grove North, Megan Balas from Stagg and Shane Evans from Palatine.

The Panthers have four returning all-conference runners in Angie Simone, Stephanie Bone, Krissy Peters and Deb Tygrett.

Nicole Milici, Amanda Schutte, Jessica Peach, Kristen Chandler and a few freshman are also doing some really solid running right now. Milici, Peters and Lizette Ruvalcaba didn’t do the big mile-repeat workout this past Saturday because of some slight injuries, but McInerney said they are all running and regaining strength.

Mostly everyone is fit from summer running, even the injured, who are well on their way to good health. McInerney hopes to “keep the healthy ones healthy and keep nursing the injured.”

As to where Eastern’s women’s cross country team stands in the OVC, McInerney said, “we could be a very deep team and strength wise we should be in good shape.” McInerney doesn’t usually do pre-season polls, but he pointed out that Eastern Kentucky and Southeast Missouri are both returning their whole squad and are in the hunt for a championship season.

“Women’s OVC is a very solid league,” McInerney said, “and there should be about five or six teams in the running for a championship.”

All things considered, the women’s cross country team should be doing just fine. Their season will begin this weekend with a meet at Northern Illinois.