Coaching Staff: Duane Gomez has coached the Lords cross country team since 1983. He's been honored four times as the North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and has collected several NCAA Division III Ohio Coach of the Year awards. Under his direction, the Lords won four conference crowns, had five student-athletes named NCAC Runner of the Year and two others named NCAC Newcomer of the Year. Additionally, Gomez had individuals and/or teams qualify for the NCAA Championship in six different seasons. Sherry Miglin and Mark Lattimore are back again as Gomez's assistant coaches.

Last Season: The 2016 Lords were a very young squad and went through some growing pains. The year started out on a good path with solid showings in the home-opening tri-meet and a fourth-place finish at the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational. Inconsistency then set in and the Lords ran out of gas as the season unfolded. At the end of the year, they took a ninth-place finish at the NCAC Championship and 31st place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. Sophomores Isak Davis and Kyle Rose led the Lords to the finish line in every meet, but one.

Team Makeup: The 2017 squad is a bit more balanced than last year. Eight upperclassmen are joined by 14 underclassmen, including a fresh group of eight first-years. The team lost just two seniors to graduation, so their experience level obviously gets a bump. The fact that three of the team's top five scorers from last season return will only help as the Lords keep aiming to improve.

Top Returnees: Now a junior, Rose headlines the list of Kenyon returning runners. He was the team's fastest in four different races last season. Senior leadership, as well as occasional scoring, will come from Eric Thornton, Benjamin Weinberg, Daniel Hojnacki and Christopher Stoll. Thornton scored in four races a season ago. The other three seniors, as well as Vincent Lewis, now a sophomore, showed solid improvement and came on strong late in the season. Look for fellow sophomores Ethan Bradley and Tommy Johnson to make major contributions, as well. That pairing posted a combined 12, top-five finishes in 2016.

Significant Losses: The Lords lost just two seniors—Alton Barbehenn and Jackson Pine. Those two had solid showings in the 2016 All-Ohio Championship, but did not contribute a whole lot of points beyond that. The biggest impact will be the loss of Isak Davis, who is taking a semester off to recover from injury. Davis led the Lords to the finish line in three different meets last season, including a 19th-place finish at the NCAC Championship.

Team Strength: Commitment to improvement. The majority of the team's returning runners showed great progress throughout the 2016 season. Now it's time for them to build on that and keep the program moving forward. From the early-going, Coach Gomez is positive about his team's development and has his sights set on getting the Lords back into NCAC title contention. 

Potential Problem: Depth could be an issue in 2017. The roster has grown to 21 runners, but that includes seven unproven freshmen. In all likelihood, Rose will be Kenyon's leader and will be followed by Johnson, Bradley, Lewis and Thornton in the next wave. Things might drop off from there, at least in terms of consistency, so it would be beneficial for the team to see one or more runners challenge for a top-five spot.

Schedule Check: Aside from some date changes, the Lords schedule is identical to last year. They'll open the season with annual home tri-meet on September 1 and then head to invitationals at Ohio Wesleyan and Otterbein. Following that, they'll be at the All-Ohio Championship in Cedarville, Ohio and the Inter-Regional Rumble at Oberlin. The postseason has the Lords running in the NCAC Championship meet on October 30 and then the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on November 11.