When nothing seems to be going your way, it sometimes helps to look on the brighter side and imagine that things cannot possibly get any worse.
Maybe that is why men's cross country coach David Uhrich seems rather upbeat, even after his team placed 20th at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship, the lowest one of his teams has ever finished.
Because things are bound to get better.
"Next year I'm looking forward to being a lot, a lot better then this year," Uhrich said. "This is the lowest finish we've ever had at regionals. We aren't happy, but now we are in a position to be so much better."
In a season filled with injuries and inexperience, the Golden Eagles never really found a rhythm during the course of the year. There were four seniors on the roster — three did not compete. Two of the team's top runners had nagging injuries, and seven freshmen are still learning what it takes to run at the college level.
"This was a difficult season to get through," Uhrich said. "We weren't as successful as we should have been, but that just makes us that much more determined."
The Golden Eagles finished with 567 points at the Indiana University Golf Course in Bloomington. Wisconsin captured the team title with 49 points. Sophomore Kyle Saginus ended his season on a high note as the first Marquette runner to cross the finish line, placing 69th with a time of 33:09.
"The season wasn't as good as I would have predicted from the start," Saginus said. "But this year gave the younger guys experience and now in the future we know what to expect."
Junior Jeremy Williams finished the 10K course in 33:51 (92nd). Freshman Drew Craig was 108th (34:14). Sophomore Josh Pinter (140th, 35:17) and freshman Scott Allen (158th, 35:46) rounded out the Golden Eagles' scorers.
Senior Dave Henderson started the race but had to drop out because of his foot injury.
"If we had Dave we might have finished a few places higher," Uhrich said. "But to still finish without him and with the other injuries we have, it's not that bad of a way to end the season."