The 2021 Monmouth College cross country season kicks off on Wednesday night in Bloomington, Illinois at the Titan Opener. Both the men's and women's rosters include a mix of returners from the 2019 season and some new faces with two classes of Fighting Scots who have yet to run in the fall for coach Jon Welty.

On the men's side Riley Dulin (Monmouth, Illinois), C.J. Bonifer (Columbia, Kentucky) and Gavin Conway (Steeleville, Illinois) are among the top returners from a 2019 season that saw the Scots finish second at the Midwest conference meet. Dulin took third in the 2019 Titan Opener.

"Those three guys need to lead the charge along with Jonah Cecil (Farmington, Illinois) who had a big summer for us," said coach Welty.

Two newcomers for the men's team are Will Plumley (Geneseo, Illinois) and Eli Newton (Dallas City, Illinois). Both freshmen qualified for the IHSA state track and field meet in the spring after missing their traditional fall cross country seasons during the pandemic.

"Will won the conference champion in high school and did well in the cross country series while Eli did well in the 800 this spring and his speed will be an asset for us," said Welty.

The women's team returns a handful of experienced runners led by Arika Hofmann (Monmouth, Illinois), Kara Fisher (Monmouth, Illinois), Ezzie Baltierra-Chavez (Denver, Colorado) and Mik Moore (Washington, Illinois). The women's team also finished second in the MWC Championships in 2019 and will begin their season in Bloomington on Wednesday. Hofmann finished fifth at the Titan Opener back in 2019.

"We have some very strong seniors to lead us this season," said Welty. "I think we had some really good progressions over the summer and I'm looking forward to seeing what our sophomore and juniors can bring to the group this year."

Despite not having a 2020 cross country season, most of the student-athletes participated in track and field in the spring, either for the Fighting Scots or in high school. That experience will hopefully benefit individuals and the team this fall.

"I talked to the whole group about our progressions and to be more aggressive for goals this year as we need to move off our track progressions instead of the 2019 cross country ones," said Welty. "Hopefully we will see some big jumps in performances for our returners."

The season gets started on Wednesday night with the Titan Opener in Bloomington. The race will take place at Maxwell Park, hosted by Illinois Wesleyan.

"First opportunity for us to get the competitive feeling going," said Welty. "This is a good meet for us and a good opener. The top take away from me will be to see how prepared we are and how ready we are to compete."