MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - The Millersville University women's indoor track and field squad opens its season at the Bison Open at Bucknell University Dec 6, with three athletes competing in the Pentathlon Friday. With 14 freshmen, including Kira Chebishev, who ran the ninth fastest 6K in program history in cross country, head coach Andy Young hopes all his athletes start to trust the process. Ahead of the meet this Saturday, coach Young shared his thoughts on the upcoming season. 

What are the expectations set by yourself and the upperclassmen for this season?
Andy Young (AY): We try and figure that out as the season goes along. Our year is really a long time for track and field with indoor just kind of leading into the outdoor season, and we started training up quite a while ago. A lot of the fall was trying to figure out athletically where we were at. Where as when we get into the season and the meat of the season, which really hits after winter break, that's when we try and figure out more about who we are as a team and our stuff. It's a long process for us and it takes some time to get there. Right now, expectations are that we were pretty good last year and we wanna be a little bit better this year. How much better can we get? That's the question we have to answer for ourselves and what kind of team we are going to be. 

Last season, indoor finished fourth at the PSAC Championships. What steps are you taking to push them into a podium finish this year?
AY: A podium finish during indoor would be awesome, but usually our focus is on the outdoor season. To get to the podium, we'd have to beat some teams with some powerful athletes that do very well on the indoor scene. Our obvious thing is we don't have indoor facilities here at Millersville, and a lot of the teams we compete against do. It's a big hill to climb for us to compete with them. But, I always feel like if we're in the top five during indoor, we're probably gonna be pretty good during outdoors. If we finish fourth, or if we ever finish better, that sets us up really well for a championship run for outdoors. 

Which returning players do you expect to take a big step forward this season? 
AY: We have a couple people that will, and were pretty strong in previous years. I think of our throwers, Sarah Hessler had a good season last year. Although she's student teaching right now, she's probably in a position to do even better this year. I can see her having a real strong season, she hit an NCAA mark last year during indoors in the weight throw or was close to it. Some people to look for in the sprints is Katelyn Murphy was the outdoor champ in the 100. I would expect that she's gonna have a pretty strong season as well. Aasly De Leon was top three in the 60 last year for indoor and I think she'll have a good season as well. Shelby Derkosh could be important in the 400 as well. She's always more of an outdoor track person, but I think she's kind of working her way forward and could do some damage in indoor this season. 

Are there any newcomers you see making an immediate impact?
AY: On the newcomer side, we have a lot of interesting talent on the team. It's always hard to rely on new athletes to do anything their first year because they are learning so much right now and developing as athletes... Olianna Oravitz could have a big impact in the jumps and the sprints for us. She has some really big credentials out of high school, and that should make a big difference. Lauren Gula has been showing great signs in the 400 and maybe the 800... Melanie Palen and Alexia Green could have an impact in the throws... And then there is Kira Chebishev who already had a strong cross country season. I would expect that she'll probably have a track season that matches or maybe exceeds that. 

If you could tell your athletes one sentence or quote of advice, what would it be and why?
AY: When I think of our team, we always go back to the same thing is, like, trust the process here. That's always been our big thing, and it takes time to get good at the sport. It's usually not an immediate impact, kind of thing for athletes. They just have to put in the work after months and even years, and that's when they start to see the results. I think our coaching staff are our strength. Coach Scott Weiser does an amazing job with them and it just takes time, an they'll get better. So, we trust the process.