Year two for New York University head men's and women's cross country coach Tyler Deck Shipley is filled with promise after welcoming a deep group of newcomers to the two squads.

Eleven men and 10 women joined the program as newcomers for the 2022 season, marking the first recruiting class for Deck Shipley as head coach. Last year was focused on building a strong foundation for each team and spirits are high during preseason as both squads look to make a leap.

"Obviously, there's a ton of passion for running in New York City," Deck Shipley said. "There's a ton of passion for running with the men's and women's teams. And I think the administration is really supportive and excited about that mission as well. So, definitely really encouraged and excited for year two."

In 2021, both the men and women finished eighth at their respective Regionals with men's freshman Ryan Tobin qualifying to represent the program at Nationals.
 

Even younger rosters have taken shape this year, but returning runners noted the heightened level of competition within the group throughout preseason workouts.

"They're all very focused, very active," said men's captain Mubeen Zainul of the newcomers. "And they've done a lot of summer training. So they're all coming in very strong. They all show a lot of potential, too. We've only been on one or two practices together and they're getting great mileage. They're hanging right with the group."

Although running is largely an individual sport, the cohesiveness of the team and its culture can have a large impact on the success of each student-athlete. Katherine Cheng, a sophomore on the women's team, spoke of the importance of her teammates and the bonds they are beginning to form.

"Having a really tight knit team is actually super important and just as important as any other team sport," Cheng said. "When you're on the course, sometimes you can kind of lose yourself and being able to spot people on your team and maybe go chase them or encourage them to come pace with you is something that's really important and can motivate you and be really helpful in the race."

The men's and women's schedules mirror each other as the Violets begin the 2022 campaign at the Vassar Season Starter on Thursday, September 1. The second meet of the season is also up in Poughkeepsie at Vassar's Ron Stonitsch Invite (Sep. 10).

Next up is the Yellowjacket Invitational at the University of Rochester on September 17, followed by Lehigh University's Paul Short Run (Sep. 30) which features teams from all three NCAA divisions.

On October 7, the Violets compete in New York City for the first and only time of the season, hitting the trails of Van Cortlandt Park for the Metropolitan Championships.

The Connecticut College Invitational on October 15 is the program's final tuneup before the races really start to count, as Deck Shipley noted.

"In our sport, it's always about the end of the year," he said. "You know, it's the conference meet, it's the regional meet and hopefully the national meet. And so those are the things that all of our training goes towards. Certainly there's some fun meets in between like the Connecticut College Invite, which is going to be a big meet where people from all over the U.S. in Division III will go."

The University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships, hosted by Emory University in Atlanta, take place on October 29 and serve as the Violets' first true test of their season-long training. Then, the NCAA Niagara Regional in Rochester, NY, comes on November 12. Strong performances from NYU will result in a bid to the NCAA Championships in Lansing, MI, on November 19 and the Violets have high hopes for their chances.

"It was definitely nice being able to go to Nationals as a freshman, but it's something that I feel like I can only enjoy knowing that we need the whole team to get there," Tobin said. "But I feel like with the group of guys we have now, with so many young guys, I feel like that's something that is really in the cards, getting the whole team to Nationals."

For the rookies, the door is wide open to start fresh and help to continue an upward trend within the program. Coming from all over the country, exposure to new trails and a new tier of competition have been recurring themes as they look to set goals for this year.

"I know it's going to be hard. Collegiate competition is a whole 'nother level," said Ania Keenan, a freshman on the women's team. "I'm really excited to run on some new cross country courses. I'm coming from the west coast, so I've been running the same courses for about four years and I'm excited to try something new. It's going to be hard, but I'm excited to put in the work for sure."

Expectations aside, growth is at the forefront of Deck Shipley's mission for the 2022 season. 

"We're going to learn a lot. And the team that we're going to be in the first month or two isn't going to be the team that we are at the end of the year," he said. "And I think that's really exciting. I think it's exciting for this year to be able to kind of really come together and be much more competitive. We're twice as talented as we were last year and, with the experience, we'll continue to grow."