VIDEO: Tyler Stepp Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman cross country programs have set their schedule for the 2017 season.

The Eagles will compete in five meets this season, including a home meet at Carson-Newman on October 6. The season begins with a short trip down the road to Greenville, Tennessee on September 1, for the Tusculum Open. Last season the women's team won the meet, while the men's team came in second place.

At the end of September the Eagles will compete in the Asheville Cross Country Invitational, before gearing up for their first home meet since 2015 during the month of October. Carson-Newman finishes the season with trips to the South Atlantic Conference Championships and Southeast Regionals at the end of October.

"We put a lot of time into creating this schedule because we knew that we were going to have a home meet," Carson-Newman cross country coach Tyler Stepp said. "We built this schedule around the idea that we can train throughout the week and that we can get better throughout the season."

Stepp is entering his second season as the head coach of the cross country team and is looking to build off of the team's success last season.

"The biggest thing is you learn your team," Stepp replied. "I have a better relationship with a group of folks on the team, than I did a year ago. I have a good idea about what I got with this team and I am really looking forward to it."

The men's team finished in eighth place at the South Atlantic Conference Championships last season and return their top three runners. Luke Greer (Northhampton, United Kingdom), Amos Korir (Eldoret, Kenya), and Anthony Jackson (Manchester, Tenn.) are all looking to pick-up where they left off last season. 

"Those three were kinda the building blocks that we built our team on." Stepp said, "They are solid guys that you knew what you were going to get out of them. We brought in a few other guys as pieces to compliment the stronger guys."

Greer is the lone senior on the men's team this season. The native of the United Kingdom, finished with a season best fourth-place finish at the Maryville College Invitational. Korir is coming off of a stellar freshman campaign, in which he took home all-freshman honors from the South Atlantic Conference Championships. Jackson meanwhile, has competed in every meet the past two seasons for the Eagles.

The women's team finished in fifth place last season at the SAC Championships. This year's squad is one of the most experienced teams, with five seniors and four juniors on the roster. Priscah Jemeli (Eldoret, Kenya), Sky McCarter (Sevierville, Tenn.) and Sarah Sharp (Lewis Center, Ohio) look to build on the team's fifth place finish from a season ago.

"Our girls' team was so strong last year from a leadership standpoint, that they were almost self-managing." Stepp responded, "There wasn't a whole lot that we had to do because they really took care of themselves and care about Carson-Newman cross country."  

Jemeli finished last season with two top-15 finishes. The native of Kenya finished in eighth place and came in 14 place at the Tusculum open last season.

McCarter came in first on the team in two different meets last season. The junior from Sevierville had two top-ten finishes last season. Sharp will go into her senior season looking to add to her six career top-ten finishes. During the 2016 campaign Sharp finished with two top-ten finishes.

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