West Windsor, N.J. -- This year the Mercer County Community College (MCCC) women’s cross country team, now in its fifth season, welcomed the men’s team as the college’s tenth athletic team.

According to Head Coach Mike DeAngelis, the addition of the men’s team was seamless. “It worked really well.  They pushed each other in practice and got along on the course and off the course,” he said.

With the same schedule of eight meets -- practically every Saturday from late August to late October -- that kind of camaraderie was particularly welcome on race days. “The women typically ran first.  The men would cheer them on and vice versa,” DeAngelis said.

The second-year coach reports that this group of eight women and eight men worked hard, with runners participating in almost every lunchtime practice. “With 16 runners, we were able to run in different packs. It’s not realistic for everyone to run at the same speed, especially on long runs, so it was great to be able to break up into groups,” he said.

With the weather unseasonably warm for the duration of the season, DeAngelis notes that noon practices were often uncomfortably hot. “But you want the team to practice in the same conditions in which races take place.  They needed to be used to it,” he said.

Both squads had runners with a range of experience, from novices to those who had run competitively in high school. But DeAngelis said that every runner improved his or her time by at least five minutes, his goal from the outset of the season. He is especially proud of freshman Denise Mosquera, an athlete new to the sport who improved by her time ten minutes.