Fresh faces, same fire; Moraine Valley women’s cross country ready to rise again

The Moraine Valley Community College women’s cross country program has several championships to its name, and a squad of new and returning faces hopes to continue bringing success home.

Expectations are high after the Cyclones recaptured the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference championship last season and dealt an upset at the NJCAA Region 4 race, edging out the favorite for the championship and qualifying the team for nationals. The sophomores are eager to introduce their new teammates to that level of achievement once again.

The challenge this season will be getting the athletes to run in a pack – the most successful strategy in college cross country. While there is some disparity in speed across the team, Head Coach Dimitri Dimizas, in his 10th season leading the program, is focusing on getting the runners to coalesce.

Leading the charge this season will be freshman Eva Zimmerman (Sandburg). She works hard, making small changes to improve. She aims to break the school 5K record. “She has her own goals and now they are my goals. She’s such a hard worker and does a lot of the little things outside of practice you’d like every athlete to do,” Dimizas said.

Sophomore Rylee Milenkovic (Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences) worked consistently in the offseason and ran well all summer after a successful freshman season where she earned All-Conference and All-Region honors. “Rylee and Eva ran more mileage this summer than the men. I’m looking forward to what Rylee does this season,” Dimizas noted.

Desiree Mendoza (Bremen) and Mia Villa (Reavis) are the other two All-Conference and All-Region sophomore runners returning this season. Although Mendoza has had vacillating injuries, her consistent and strong running this summer bodes well for the fall. Villa’s health problems kept her away from running the last six months, but she has recently returned to it. “It’ll be an uphill battle, but we hope to have her ready to help us at the end of October at the Region meet,” Dimizas said.

First-year Cyclone Fernanda Cabrera (Oak Forest) is a sophomore after taking a year off running. She is learning the ins and outs of college cross country and, according to Dimizas, will be a dark horse this season. Guadalupe Marquez (Argo), a freshman with a passion and drive for running, rounds out the roster.

One change for the Cyclones this season is the elimination of conference competition. Over the last few years, some Skyway colleges have been unable to form teams. Instead, the Cyclones will focus their energy on placing well at the NJCAA Region 4 race and qualifying for nationals.

“It’s disappointing that the conference racing is not happening, so everything we’re doing now is focused on Oct. 25 – regionals,” Dimizas commented. “Des and Rylee both said their goal is to bring the team to nationals again with the freshmen.”

Dimizas has reformed the types of workouts as well as their timing and locations to avoid common injuries his runners suffer during the season. He hopes these modifications will ease the impact on their joints while allowing them to maintain speed, yielding another accolade-filled year.

“Keeping everyone healthy is a priority, but we’ll still try for a region repeat. It just comes down to the competition,” Dimizas said. “We will grow and keep getting better.”

The Cyclones open their season on Friday, Aug. 29, 6:30 p.m., at the Saints Twilight Invitational in Channahon, IL. For updates on Cyclones Athletics, visit mvcyclones.com.