Moraine Valley men's cross country top season with two runners at nationals

From the beginning and throughout the season, one word persisted when it came to describing the 2015 Moraine Valley Community College men’s cross country team—“young.” Nine of the 11-member team were first-year runners, and in the end two of them rose to the top.

Jeremy Morgan (Tinley Park) and Tomas Villa (Reavis) collected All-Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference and All-NJCAA Region IV Division I honors and qualified for the national championship on Nov. 14 where they finished in the top half of the race.

“As freshmen, Jeremy and Tomas showed us a lot. They gained experience that will help them do even better next year. They now know how to compete at the college level. We expect great things from them, as they do themselves,” said Coach Mark Horstmeyer, who completed his 16th season at the helm.

Horstmeyer also had praise for his two sophomores—Braulio Castellanos (Reavis) and Ryan Dovgin (Andrew). “Braulio was a mainstay for two years, and we will definitely miss his leadership. If he decides to continue his collegiate running, he will be an asset to his team,” Horstmeyer said. “We really appreciated Ryan’s support during his two seasons. Unfortunately, injuries plagued him, and he wasn’t able to do what he was capable of accomplishing. He put his team first and did everything we asked him to do to help us. I am proud of both these guys.”

The remaining first-year runners—Alec Altman (Sandburg), Rej Bedini (Gjimnazi I Ri), Vicente Carbajal (Eisenhower), Kevin Dusek (Shepard), Andrew Miller (Shepard), and Ronaldo Wallace (Thornridge)—gained experience that they will need to call upon next season if the year will be successful for them and the Cyclones.

“The learning curve for them was sometimes steep as they had to transition from racing three miles to racing five miles. As a result, they had to step up their training considerably, learn how to compete at the collegiate level, deal with the inevitable aches and pains, and then improve each week during the season. Now the challenge will be to carry all they experienced to the long off-season and use it as motivation to get better. We have every intention to help them along,” Horstmeyer said. “They have the potential to be very good next year. If they put in the time and are committed to improving, they will be a force to be reckoned with. I’m excited for them.”