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Chance chases cross country repeat championship

| By: By Donald Heath
SAVANNAH, Ga. – As a freshman at Savannah State University, Kayla Chance finished eighth in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Cross Country Championship.

Two years later, when she analyzed times from returning conference runners coming off the COVID shutdown year (2020), she realized her improvement elevated her among the league's best.

"Maybe about halfway through the (2021) season I started thinking, 'hey, I can win this thing,' " Chance said.

Indeed, she won the conference title last fall by more than 27 seconds – the Tigers' first league championship since rejoining the SIAC in 2019 – and earned the SIAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year honor.

Her goal for the 2022 cross country season? Same as the old goal.

"Definitely defending is what I'm thinking now," said Chance, as SSU closes in on its opener in September.
 
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Chance will be the Tiger runner to watch throughout 2022. She set a school-record with a time of 18:47 in the 5-kilometer Queen City Invitational last season.

Her high placement at the SIAC Championships advanced her to the NCAA Division II South Region Cross Country Championships where she placed 66th in the 6K race.

"What she's done hasn't surprised me because she puts the work in," SSU coach Ted Whitaker said. "We're aiming for Kayla to break 18 (minutes, in 5K) and make Nationals."

Whitaker loves the discipline Chance brings to running. It isn't easy being a collegiate runner because a scholarship could mean you'll run cross country, indoor track and outdoor track throughout the year.

Chance, now a senior, did all three while pursuing a military career. She joined the national guard and finished jump school recently. Her degree will be in homeland security emergency management.

Now Whitaker hopes Chance can be the anchor to a successful women's cross country team. Many long-distance runners fare well in cross country, but sometimes track middle-distance runners and intermediate hurdlers are asked to fill in at meets.

A cross country team has to score in four meets with five athletes to count toward NCAA sponsorship.

"We take cross country seriously," Whitaker said. "I do have people we throw into the mix like my quarter-milers and intermediate hurdlers, sometimes my multi-athletes. They're there to make out the team but they don't do the same workout as my distance runners do. We're not trying to make a sprinter a distance runner, but sometimes if I'm shorthanded we'll need them."

Whitaker said Simone Johnson, Sky Buie-Cox, Ravyn Cystrunk and Langsten Lilly will join Chance as key scorers for the Lady Tigers. Buie-Cox, a graduate transfer from Claflin University, was 24th last year at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Cross Country Championship.

The SSU men's cross country will be rebuilding with Camron McClendon, Daniel Ogunderu, Joseph Hale, Daeshaun Logan (jumps) and Nyzaveon Thompson (hurdles).

McClendon, who was on the team two years ago, and Ogunderu are middle distance runners. Hale is a transfer from Florida State College at Jacksonville. 

Myles Corey, who ran on the team last fall, was 40th at the SIAC Cross Country Championship.
 
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