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| Upcoming Events: Sat., Sept. 3: SMU Invitational, Winona, Minn. Sat., Sept. 10: SMU at Carleton Invitational, Northfield, Minn. |
WINONA, Minn. — As the head coach of both the Saint Mary's University men's and women's cross country teams, wearing more than one hat comes with the territory for head coach Ward Berndt.
What he didn't realize, however, was how different those hats would be.
At times, Berndt finds himself walking around with a hard hat atop his head, as he takes on the role of foreman during the reconstruction of the men's program.
But building a foundation isn't what Berndt needs to do on the women's side — finding the recipe to help his squad stay healthy and reach its potential is, so he has to toss the hard hat aside and replace it with a chef's hat.
"It's going to be a challenge, but I'm excited about the opportunity to see what type of impact I can have on the program," said Berndt, who took over as the Cardinals' head coach this season, replacing John Skemp, who stepped down in January to pursue other ventures. "I think there's going to be an adjustment period – both the athletes adjusting to a new coach and me adjusting to the athletes — but hopefully that won't take too long."
What may take a while, Berndt admits, is his men's rebuilding project.
"We lost two (seniors) to graduation, and we only have one senior this year, so we are going to be a very young squad," said Berndt, whose lone senior is Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn.), a regular for the Cardinals the past three seasons. "We are going to need some of our younger runners to step up right away. You hate to rely on your freshmen and sophomores to fill leadership roles — both on the trails and off — but we are going to have to this year.
"It's definitely a rebuilding year, but it's also a learning year," Berndt continued. "And we're all going to learn together."
There's no need to rebuild on the women's side, as Berndt has the luxury of returning nine letterwinners from a year ago.
Keeping them healthy, however, is definitely going to be a full-time job.
"Last year was a tough year from an injury standpoint — we were never able to put together a completely healthy lineup," said Berndt, who was Skemp's assistant a year ago. "Hopefully that won't be the problem this year.
"Our top five have the potential of being very, very solid," continued Berndt, whose women's team will be led by lone senior Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) — a two-time NCAA outdoor track and field national qualifier. "And with the depth we have, there will be a lot of competition for our top seven spots.
"If we can stay healthy, we could definitely make a big jump up into the middle of the MIAC."