By Kent Stein
Scott Wisnaskas is back.
A 2002 grad, Wisnaskas was a two-time MVP of the men’s cross-country team. He’s returned to revitalize the ailing distance program for head coach Sherman Hart.
“[Wisnaskas] is absolutely a plus,” Hart said. “He ran in the meets so he blends perfectly with us. He has the same idealogies that this program has. These coaches come in with their all-world game plans, but he already has our game plan.”
Wisnaskas has high expectations for both teams, but different philosophies for each.
While he said he knows the men’s team is a young, developing squad which should be competitive in a year or two, he is expecting the women’s team to have the best season in its history.
“We definitely have the guns to do it,” Wisnaskas said.
Seniors Erin Ballard, Emily Watson, Amy Hicks and Erica Riecke and junior Stephanie Morrison form what Wisnaskas calls a “tight group to be the team’s strong pack and do quite well all season long.”
The pack did not meet Wisnaskas’ expectations during losses to Boston University, Harvard and Rhode Island to open the season on Friday. Ballard led the group on the 3.11-mile course at Franklin Park, placing ninth in a personal best 18:50. Watson finished 12th in 19:03.
Morrison finished in 20:01, which disappointed the coach.
“I expected more out of Steph,” he said.
Hicks finished in 20:28, which Wisnaskas attributed to an injury.
The biggest surprise was freshman Brittany Moriarty finishing 21st in 19:56. She was Northeastern’s third runner to cross the finish line, an incredible feat considering she never ran in an official cross-country meet prior to the race.
“I played soccer and ran track in high school,” Moriarty said. “But I have been working on distance all summer.”
Despite her inexperience, Moriarty is not afraid to lead the talented team.
“Our team is really close, so it doesn’t matter what year I am,” she said.
Overall, Wisnaskas felt as though the team could have performed better, but considering the career best of Ballard and emergence of Moriarty, he called the meet “a step in the right direction.”
Wisnaskas’ goals for the season are to perform well at the team’s conference meets and regionals, and has the team focused on the New England Championship Meet on Oct. 8. His goal is for the team to finish as one of the top five teams in New England.
While the men’s team lost to BU and Harvard on Sept. 9, the Huskies’ top five finishers consisted of a freshman, three sophomores and a junior. Sophomores Tom Brown and T.J. Niles, the top two finishers, ran career bests.
Brown has high expectations and expects to break the record time he set in the meet.
“I had just come off running 100 miles that week and was overworked. I’ll definitely top the time once I get my mileage down,” he said.
“We weren’t fully fresh, and still had personal best performances from Tom and T.J. I expect [Brown] to be right up there all year long. Our top three ran some of the best times of their lives. With every meet, we develop as a team.”
Wisnaskas believes the men’s team is the best Northeastern has seen in at least five years and anticipates the squad will be extremely competitive down the road. The team’s goal is to finish at least five runners under 27 minutes on the 4.97 mile course.
In the BU and Harvard losses, Brown and Niles were the only runners to achieve this, finishing in 26:41 and 26:56, respectively.
Both Husky teams are in action on Saturday in Dartmouth for the UMass Dartmouth Invitatational at 10:30 a.m.
