The real season begins now for the cross country programs at Shawnee State.
Each of the five previous meets that the Bears have competed in with their full groups to this point all comes down to this -- as the Shawnee State women's and men's cross country programs will compete in Saturday morning's River States Conference Championships, which will be held at the Angel Mounds State Historic State in Evansville, Ind. The men's race will commence at 9:30 a.m. with the women's race to follow at 10:30 a.m.
For Shawnee State Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Conner Flynn, the challenges -- which include the Shawnee State men's cross country program going after its ninth consecutive conference championship in one of the most competitive conference championship fields in the country and the Shawnee State women's cross country program reclaiming the top spot in the conference heap for the first time since 2019 -- are ones that are relished.
"Both the men's and women's teams have placed themselves in a great position heading into the conference championships," Flynn said. "Both sides have done the work. We focus on controlling what we can control, and setting ourselves up for success."
The Angel Mounds Cross Country Course -- the site of both the women's and men's cross country championships -- was designed and built by former Evansville head coach Don Walters. The course officially opened for collegiate competition in 2014, and saw action as recently as three weeks ago, when the University of Evansville hosted the Angel Mounds Invitational. Brescia, Rio Grande, Indiana-Kokomo, Oakland City, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and Indiana-Columbus represented the River States Conference units that competed in that race.
"The Angel Mounds course is a great course that features repeated loops," Flynn said. "The flow of the course allows for fast times. We don't want to underestimate this, but instead, just be ready to race."
The competition on both the men's and women's side of the spectrum inside of the River States Conference is certainly not to be underestimated. In all, three River States Conference men's teams sit inside the national top-20 -- Shawnee State, Rio Grande and Indiana-East -- while the same three opponents look to be just as tight on the women's side of the coin. Indiana-Kokomo and Midway also performed at solid paces during last season's River States Conference Championships in both the men's and women's races, and are also formidable contenders.
"Winning the conference title in the River States would be special," Flynn said. "The men's side has come such a long way and features some very good teams. We are excited to mix it up with them. As for the women's side, many teams are young but competitive. We look forward to putting our best efforts out there and if we do, we like our chances."
With that, Flynn is excited about the upcoming proceedings that sit less than 24 hours away from commencing.
"The past couple of weeks have been good to the men, as they look better each week," Flynn said. "I have the utmost confidence in them, and we are ready to compete. As for the women's team, they have been working hard and I believe that Saturday will once again be a great example of progression for them, as they've shown all season."
