The men's and women's cross country teams will begin the new season at the University of Massachusetts/ Dartmouth Invitational held at Dartmouth College on Sept. 18 under the guidance of their newly appointed head coach, John Evans. Evans was assigned to his post as head coach of the cross country teams and co-head coach of track and field (with Mark Reytblatt) this past summer, replacing Jean Olds Cann '92.

"I'm excited, it's a lot of fun," Evans said, "I have a year under my belt already so I just want to keep working with and improving the team." Evans served as the acting coach for the cross country team last season while Cann was on maternity leave and as the assistant coach for the two years prior.

Before joining the Brandeis athletics department, Evans coached at Providence College and sent 10 of his athletes to the Olympic Games, world championships and other international competitions.

In his three years at Brandeis, Evans has made his mark on the cross country team.

"John is an awesome coach... [who is] continuing the trend of fabulous coaches by getting us to be a cohesive team," said Rachel Ackerman '05, captain of the women's team.

Evans helped six athletes reach the NCAA Championships including captain Dan Crespin '05, who returns to the team this year. Also coming back is captain Matt Griego '05 who won a UAA individual medal at the cross country championships his first year and is returning from a season-long injury.

Despite many talented returning team members, a substantial hole exists in the roster due to the loss of several runners to graduation and not qualifying for NCAA status.

"Every year [in the past] we've lost some really strong seniors, but we've never had a big problem overcoming that," Ackerman points out. "We have a really great team this season, a strong set of freshman and newcomers. We are going to work hard to do as well this season as in the past."

Evans looks to "consolidate and improve the women's side" and is expecting Megan Bisceglia '07 and Camille Stevens-Rumann '07 to help the captains lead the team. For the men's side, Coach Evans feels the "biggest obstacle is that we don't have a lot of numbers and have many coming back from injury. Our biggest concern is to keep the team healthy." Along with Peter Vigneron '06, Crespin, Griego and Aaron Skolnik '05.

"Joel Sunshine should round out the top five," Evans said.

The cross country teams have five meets this semester during which Evans and his team will strive to overcome their roster shortages and continue their impressive record of success.

"We just have to make sure that we peak at the right time and not too early," Ackerman said. "We want to do our best at the big meets.