Cross country counting on youth leadership

Experience counts.\nBut the men's and women's cross country teams hope to prove that it's not all that matters. Both Hoosier squads are counting on their young runners to to bring IU cross country to the limelight.\nBoasting a strong recruiting class that includes 2001 Indiana state champion Jessica Gall, three time all-state honoree Lindsay Hattendorf, two time all-state track honoree Jennifer Emley, and four-year varsity letter winner Kelly Siefker, the women's team is expecting to compete for the Big Ten title.\nCoach Judy Wilson is confident that her young runners' high school success will translate in Bloomington.\n"If we get all our ducks in a row and no one gets hurt," Wilson said, "I don't see why we can't finish in the top three in the Big Ten. Youth shouldn't be an excuse."\nEchoing Wilson's confidence in the young runners is junior Audrey Giesler.\nGiesler's two years of experience make her a leader for the younger corps. Giesler said she believes that she and the other juniors and seniors will not have to do much to motivate the younger runners. \n"They are very motivated," Giesler said. "We think they can make an immediate impact." \nToday the women's team will face a challenging South Florida team at the Indiana Open. Last season USF finished 31st in the nation and, this year, should provide a means for the women's team to gauge themselves. Wilson said she believes her team will be up to the task. \n"We should be able to run with the top 25," she said.\nOn the men's side, head coach Robert Chapman is also confident in his young team.\n"We have four redshirt freshmen who are all very talented," he said. "Three of them were high school All-Americans, and the fourth made the 1,500-meter finals at the Big Ten meet last year in track." \nIncluded in this group are three-time all-state honoree John Jefferson, his twin brother Sean Jefferson, who was 31st at the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship as a junior, 1999 Footlocker finalist Stephan Haas, and Eric Redman who earned all-state honors in track and cross country his junior and senior years. \nIU starts the season as the 23rd ranked team in the country. This marks the third straight time IU has been ranked in the top 25. Chapman said he believes his young runners can help the team live up to this ranking. \n"(Our younger runners) need to run with the confidence and maturity that our older guys did when they were redshirt freshmen and we were 17th in the nation," Chapman said.\nToday the men will also run in the Indiana Open. But getting off to a good start at that race is not as important to Chapman as some of his team's other goals.\n"For us, it's more of a tune-up. A shake-out," Chapman said. "We have three championship meets in November. Those are the season for us"