DANVILLE, Va. — Entering a first season as a head coach can bring its own challenges. Then add in the obstacles of an unusual fall. However, first-year Averett University men's and women's cross country head coach Hayden Rader is off and running with his team as the Cougars have been practicing for two weeks.

"I'm very fortunate I have such a great group of student-athletes that come prepared and ready to get after it," Rader said. "I've really enjoyed meeting as a team in person, and I'm excited to see where the season will take us."

The cross country teams are two-thirds of the way through their first training block which will conclude with a 5K time trial next Thursday.

"Everyone's looking forward to it, as it will be the first in-season test to gauge performance capabilities," Rader said. "Moving forward, we'll be able to extrapolate the 5K time-trail times into training paces so we can progress into threshold training in our next mesocycle.

Rader also announced senior Michael Nichols as the team captain for the men's team, and he will serve as an interim team captain for the women's team since the two teams train together.
  BRING 'EM OUT: Averett women's soccer has its first intrasquad scrimmage on Friday at 7 p.m., and first-year head coach Meghan Mauzy-Fleming is excited to see her team in action. She hit the recruiting trail hard to help build depth within the roster. She brought in 15 newcomers this fall to add to the 10 returners.

"I believe I recruited fighters to come play for me, which is the exact culture I would like to create," she said.

Mauzy-Fleming is a big advocate for "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard," a mindset which she has seen in some of her younger players throughout this preseason when given the opportunities to create a name for themselves.

Along with establishing a culture in her first year, Mauzy-Fleming has developed the type of tactics she would like to implement throughout the year.

"Having so much time this fall, it has really given me a chance to break down our strengths and weaknesses," she said.

A main strength Mauzy-Fleming pointed out her team had was speed. She believes the fall intrasquad scrimmages will be a huge benefit so she can try out different formations while putting players in new positions to have them grow in different aspects of the game.
  KEEPING IT REAL: The Averett men's soccer team has its second intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday at 3 p.m. which is Game 2 of its first three-game series. Game 1 ended in thrilling fashion as sophomore Sebastian Widen capitalized on a late-game penalty kick to give Blue a 3-2 victory.

Head coach Philip Wilson really focused on having a week where it felt like game prep as much as possible.

"We took certain things from the last scrimmage and focused on them throughout the week," he said. "Really honing in on the midfield and trying to stay compact."

Wilson emphasized closing up passing lanes, which was something he wanted to work on following the first scrimmage. The coaches are using these scrimmages to up the competition level within the team. Also, they are using this time to have some players step up in leadership roles.
The teams will once again play three 30-minute periods, which will help keep the players hydrated and rested to compete at their highest level.
  FIRST ACTION: Averett volleyball freshman Emma Nash was among a large group of newcomers who got their first taste of collegiate action.

"It was very exciting to finally get out there and compete," Nash said. "I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time and getting out there with all of the freshmen and being together finally as a team. We saw some things that we need to work on and what our strengths are, but I am so glad that we are finally playing." 

The returners were also thrilled to get back on the court for some game action.

"I was super excited, along with the rest of the team, being able to scrimmage it gives us somewhat of a normalcy of what a regular season would be like and it was really fun," junior Sarah Shropshire said. 
Morgan Barnes was also pleased after Wednesday night's first intrasquad scrimmage. 

"Getting back out on the court again felt, amazing," Barnes said after Wednesday's match. "I've been itching to get back into this uniform ever since we ended spring season. Overall, tonight was probably one of the better nights that I have played and I feel really, really hopeful for the future of our fall season." 

Despite head coach Danny Miller electing to group his returners mostly on one side to pit against his incoming freshmen, it was clear that the future looks bright as several freshmen made stand-out plays throughout the evening, including defensive specialist Erin Gray and Skylyn Ostwalt, who on numerous occasions could be seen diving across the court to collect a dig. 
  'BACK IN BUSINESS: Averett football's linebacker position group is working hard in preseason to build upon last year's solid season. A combination of returners — including seniors Conner Showalter and Nicholas Mintz, as well as junior Adrian Earle — have been a huge help in the progression of the group thus far.

All three of those guys are outstanding players who have played in big moments for us," said David Clark, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. "They have picked up and improved from last season, and I look forward to continuing to see them develop. All of our newcomers are working hard to understand how we play linebacker here at Averett. We see a lot of promise."

Clark said both linebackers in Averett's system play a critical role in getting the defense lined up and adjusting the front to ensure they are gap sound. 

"They also are asked to do a lot in the pass game both playing man and zone with our scheme," Clark said. "We are an aggressive group with high expectations in terms of what our production should be. We have been blessed since I got here with a lot of talented young men playing linebacker for us and this year will be no different."