 Hello welcome to the David Ann Show presented by Buffalo Wildlings. I'm Greg Royston, my Stevenson Cross Country and track and field coach David Ann. Coach, you wrapped up your season a few weeks ago. Let's start by talking a little about the Mac Championship. You know, just overall, you know, a pretty good day, maybe not what you want on the men's side, a little bit disappointing, but over, you know, still second place finish and some strong individuals on both sides. Yeah, so I mean, it was tough. I mean, they definitely really wanted to win on the men's side, but I mean, second place two years in a row. I mean, it's a great accomplishment, especially if you look back to where we were three, four or five years ago. And then the woman finishing fifth as well, that was a really big accomplishment and shows just what a bright future we have kind of on both sides. Yeah, like you said, on both sides really, you know, on the women's side, you don't lose anybody. On the men's side, you know, you lose a couple guys, but not, you know, a lot of the core is back. So, you know, it's not like this is going to be all we, you know, our first senior class, the first class you recruited, we're going to drop off a little bit. You guys should be right in the mix. Yeah, I mean, it's going to hurt us on the men's side losing Langston Gash, but we will definitely have other people step up and then have a few kind of solid recruits coming in. And then like you said, on the women's side, we don't lose anybody. And Kelly Winklebauer is coming back for another semester because she had a medical red shirt. So we're excited about that. Yeah, absolutely. And the NCA regionals, the men finish eighth and the women, I believe, was 20th. That's their best ever finish. So, you know, again, just a lot to be excited about. And obviously, you know, Pat goes out and finishes second on the men's side and was able to qualify for nationals. Yeah, so I mean, definitely the goal for the men was to finish top four. And if everything went perfect, that still could have happened. But I mean, last year, we were seventh this year, we were eighth. Five through eight was such a tight point gap. But I mean, it could have went either way. So I'm happy with the way it went. And then the woman, again, finishing higher than ever and bringing everyone back. I mean, it's a good sign for next year. Yeah. And then so obviously Pat Watson goes out for second straight year, goes out to nationals. And, you know, runs a great race, finishes 15th programs, first ever All-American. I mean, that had to be awesome to watch him compete and, you know, be that first All-American. And, you know, he was right there. Yeah. And Pat, I mean, he's such a great role model and leader on the team, too. I mean, he does everything right. And just for him to go out there, I mean, the goal was, so top 40 was All-American. And I told him, I mean, perfect day, he could be top 15. And then he goes and finishes 15. So it was really exciting. The top 15 and at Cross Country Nationals get, it's kind of a little bit different of an award. You get an NCAA award and then 15 to 40, get our Coach Association All-American award. So it was exciting to finish and crack that top 15. And he's only a junior. So it's exciting. I mean, the year before, he was 71st. Now, this year, he's 15th. So I think there were only four underclassmen ahead of him. So it's exciting. Yeah. So now, obviously, having that experience, not having gone out twice, that, you know, if he's fortunate to qualify again and be able to go out there for a third time, he'll have, he'll be one of the most experienced guys in that field next year. And again, obviously, you hope that, you know, the team will be able to join him. But even he goes against an individual, he'll have that experience. Again, we want to probably be one of the top, one of the favorites to, you know, finish top five or possibly win. Yeah. And I mean, it's exciting to look to look ahead. But I mean, like you said, we definitely would love to have some women and the men's team out there next year. But Pat, having that experience is definitely really, really important. Yeah. So like you said, you kind of touched on it, but you bring everybody back for next year or just about everybody back. You know, you know, obviously, you've got, you start track season this week. So that's, but what do you do at the where the cross country guys do to kind of build towards next year already, you know, just compete strong in track and then do some of their offseason stuff. Yeah. So what we do right now is after cross country, instead of taking some downtime, we take advantage of the fitness and keep them training all the way up till this first meet. So the distance runners and the cross, I mean, the cross country runners should have a pretty good performance at the meet this weekend. And then on the track side, it's kind of that opportunity to get in one meet before, before they head home for winter break. And, and I mean, it's just it's a year round sport. It takes a lot of commitment. I mean, the cross country runners, they run all but maybe two weeks of the whole entire year. So it's a it's a long, I mean, they work hard. Yeah. Yeah. So like you said, just touch five briefly, but you guys start to track season this week. It's just go ahead. Like you said, just an opportunity to compete against some other some other guys besides your own teammates. Yeah. So I mean, they've been practicing on the track and field side since mid October. So it'll be fun to get out and just kind of get that opportunity to it's it's different when you're in a competition. So yeah, so just to get something in before they head home for for winter break and then they come back in early January and then we get right back into the indoor and then the outdoor season. Yeah, we're just kind of gauge where you're at right now. Absolutely. All right, coach, we'll thanks as always for your time and we'll chat after the first of the year. Sounds good. All right. For David Dan, I'm Greg Royce. This has been the David Dan Show.