Losing and attempting to replace a star athlete of a team in any sport is a difficult task.

But this year, Eastern’s men’s cross country team has found this assignment to be a much easier situation than it had expected.

After last season’s top runner, Kyle O’Brien, graduated, a question mark was immediately placed over this year’s team because it was losing the team leader. Last season O’Brien constantly pushed himself and his teammates to become the best they could be.

“Kyle (O’Brien) was a hugely intense and focused runner,” Eastern cross country coach John McInerney said. “He was a quiet type of leader, but he wasn’t going to baby some of the runners because he was such a determined individual.”

But while the Panthers have missed O’Brien’s presence around the team this fall, senior runner Jeff Jonaitis has stepped up to become the new team leader. He has become a vocal leader with his teammates, and has also led by example.

Jonaitis started off this year only by winning the individual title at the Hawkeye Invitational, an event that included Big Ten competitors Iowa and Wisconsin.

“I know that Iowa held out their best three, but we just wanted to get our nose out front and see how the meet would develop for us,” McInerney said.

To McInerney, Jonaitis’ performance was not a surprise. Instead McInerney knew from last year’s strong performances from Jonaitis that what he got at the beginning of this year was similar to how he ran last year.

The fifth-year senior, has held an important position on the team’s rotation of runners since his sophomore year. He had been asked to carry some burden for the team during his freshmen year even, and might have been used more if McInerney didn’t believe in using freshmen that often.

“Since his sophomore year he’s been in the heart of our main pack of runners,” McInerney said. “And maybe his strong performance in Iowa is because he has a sense of urgency because he is a fifth-year senior.”

Jonaitis’ impact was not only felt as the team started their new season, it was also felt over the summer as he kept up with each member of the team. He did so by a newsletter, which he used to make sure the different members of the team were keeping up on their off-season training.

“Jeff (Jonaitis) spent the summer keeping up with all the rest of the runners,” McInerney said. “He sent a newsletter to the guys to keep track of each other and made sure all the members of the team were getting their work done.”

Instead of struggling after the loss of their best runner from a year ago, the Panthers have been able to move on with a successful start to their new season.

“I like the kind of start we are off to,” McInerney said. “We need to do some work as a team, but with guys like Jonaitis, the team has already bought into the team concept. “